Power Rangers: Cyberspace Heroes
by Slash-Raptor
Summary: Infamous technological genius and billionaire, Stephen Silverstone, recruits four teenagers to become Power Rangers. Together, this new breed of rangers will have to defend Metro City from a maniacal serial killer and computer hacker who was banished to Cyberspace five years ago. They are the Heroes of Cyberspace... They are Earth's last chance for survival...
1. Origins

Sector 13 High School  
Metro City, Canada  
April 28th, 2015  
3:00 PM

"**Riley Bishop"**

I woke up with a snort when I heard the school bell. I had been dreaming of code. Binary code, mostly. It was flowing in all directions over an empty void. Occasionally, I would get glimpses of where the code was flowing from, but I couldn't discern exactly what it was. It was a peculiar dream, because I've never seen binary code anywhere other than on a computer screen. I've also never seen binary in so many colours. It was like a rainbow threw up on it.

"Wow! That was such an interesting class. I would've hated to sleep through it, especially since everything he talked about is guaranteed to be on the test next week." said Marcus; taunting me by doing the exact same thing that I usually did to him.

Marcus Reynolds was medium height and looked young for his age. He was skinny, like me, but not because he was scrawny, just because he wasn't muscular. His hair was thick, brown and curly. When he cut it too short, it looked like a deflated afro. He is a devout hat collector and is almost never seen without a flamboyant golfer-style hat on his head. Today's hat was dark green with a plaid design. He used to wear berets until his father was killed in action in Iraq. Although he wishes he could follow in his father's footsteps, except for the whole dying part, he's just not cut out for the army, and he knows it. He has an endless supply of jokes and a crooked smile, which is probably how he got his job at the radio station. His stage name is "Question Marc."

We got up and headed into the hall. Our other friend, Rachel, followed us out.

"Please tell me I didn't drool." I yawned.

"Fine, I won't tell you."

"You could've woken me up, you know?"

"I didn't have the heart. You seemed so peaceful."

"Peaceful sleepers don't snore." said Rachel, shoving me playfully.

"I didn't sleep well last night, okay?" I said.

"You still feeling up to going to a movie tonight?" asked Rachel, feeling my forehead.

"Quit momming me, Rach," I said, moving her hand away, "It freaks me out."

"You're not even warm, you big baby."

"There's supposed to be at least fifteen minutes of total nudity in the movie," said Marcus, cheerfully, "Once you see some gratuitous tits, you'll cheer right up."

"How many times have I asked you not to talk like that around me!?" barked Rachel.

"Oh, yeah, that's right. You're a girl, aren't you?"

"We keep forgetting that you're not just a cool guy with long hair." I said.

Rachel rolled her eyes. Marcus and I have been teasing her about that for so long. The fact of the matter is that Rachel Parker was very obviously a girl. She was about 5'5" with gorgeous, red hair that got frizzy in humid weather. She had stunningly blue eyes that were so unique that there should have been a crayon dedicated to the color of Rachel's eyes. They could even call it "Eyes of Rachel Parker", or something. She had several freckles on her cheeks and prominent nose. Everyone always teased her about her nose, calling it a "Jew Nose". It didn't help that her name was Rachel, but in spite of her nose, she wasn't Jewish. In fact, she's a Christmas fanatic. Every year that she comes over for Christmas, I entertain her by doing the "Snoopy Dance". She and I have lived next door to each other since we were in diapers. I won't deny that she's beautiful, but, she just doesn't see me as anything other than her oldest friend.

"Fine, would it help if we look at yours, too, Rachel?" said Marcus.

"Not really, no."

"Relax, he's just being Marcus," I said, putting my arm around her "We haven't even decided on a movie yet."

"Sure we did! We're seeing "Bikini Beach" aren't we, Riley?" said Marcus.

"You've already seen that three times. We'll pick something else." I said.

Just then, I felt someone aggressively shove me to ground. My nose hit first and I screamed in agony as it broke.

"Watch where you're walking, you klutzy douchebag!" laughed Oz, hysterically.

Heath Ostreicher; is the very definition of an asshole. He was enormous; at least 6'8" with short, platinum blonde hair that was usually a crew cut. He must have weighed over twenty pounds when he was born, because his muscles are all real. He's always been like that since kindergarten too, even before he was the captain of the football and wrestling teams. Despite coming from a very poor family, he has a nice car and nice clothes. Nobody really knows where he got them from. He's picked on me relentlessly for as long as I can remember, although, he usually never goes too far… Until now, anyway…

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" shrieked Rachel, kicking him in the balls as hard as she could.

"You cheap bitch!" he spat, collapsing to the ground.

Marcus had already helped me up, but I couldn't see. My glasses must've snapped clean in half by the bridge. This school sucked. Surely a teacher must've seen that.

"Riley, say something!" said Marcus.

"I dink he bwoke by nose…" I sputtered, swallowing blood as I spoke.

"Come on, we're going to the principal. It's time Oz got what was coming to him."

"No, Bawcus. Led hib go," I moaned, "Jusd dake be do de nuwse, okay?"

"But, Riley-" began Rachel.

"If we dell de pwincipal, he could ged expelled."

"Let's hope so."

"No pwincipal… Oz would know who duwned hib in. Id would only bake dings wowse."

The nurse's office was on the third floor. I suppose because there would always be good light in there for her to work. That makes perfect sense, unless you're being carried by your two best friends with your head tilted back, swallowing your own nose blood. Then it was the stupidest thing about this school. Oz had attacked me by the parking lot doors, which literally meant I was as far away from her office as it's possible to be. The poor janitor would have a trail of blood to clean up. Why couldn't Oz have made my nose spew bread crumbs? By the time we got there, I was feeling really light headed. There was no way I could have lost that much blood from my nose. Five liters seems so much bigger when it's a jug of milk.

"What happened to him?" asked Nurse Collins.

"Bar fight." said Marcus.

"He walked into a locker door." said Rachel.

"So, Riley, what really happened?" asked Nurse Collins, again.

"Id was a lockew doow," I moaned, "Like Wachel said."

"Fine." said Nurse Collins.

It was obvious that she didn't believe me, but she could nag me about it after she stopped me from bleeding out through my nose. While I lay there, I think I fell asleep again. I had that dream about binary again, only this time the code was red, and it was scrolling down. I could see a droplet of blood, which would then transform into either a "0" or a "1", moved down, and make room for another drop of blood and so and so on. What did it mean, though?

"Is his nose always going to look like that from now on?" asked Rachel.

"Probably," said Nurse Collins, "He was hit hard; much harder than if he had just walked into a locker door."

"That's why I said "bar fight"," said Marcus, "It makes him seem manlier and makes more sense."

"How stupid do you kids think I am? Neither one of those lies are consistent with his injury." said Nurse Collins.

"It was my fault," I said, relieved that I could speak normally again without swallowing blood, "I egged on Heath Ostreicher so he'd punch me. I wanted to look tough for Rachel."

I gave her a very prominent wink, prompting her to play along.

"Ugh, yeah, he's been crushing on me for years. I've told him I'm not interested, but he's stubborn." She said, sadly.

"Why don't you just go out with the poor kid before he kills himself?" asked Nurse Collins, exasperatedly.

"Can we take him home now?" asked Marcus.

"As long he doesn't get punched again," said Nurse Collins, "It'll break twice as bad if that happens."

Outside in the parking lot, Marcus handed me a pair of glasses.

"Those are your spares," he said, "You know, the ones you told me to keep in my locker in case of emergencies?"

"Thanks."

My spare glasses were not my favourite pair. I hated them, even though my sister said she thought they looked awesome. They were black, full frame and somewhat rectangular.

"Your sister has great taste," said Rachel, "I've always liked those better on you."

Hearing Rachel say that she wasn't interested in me had an unexpected effect on me. Whether or not she was just saying that didn't matter to me. I had never noticed just how strong my feelings for her actually were. I had honestly never really asked how she felt about me before. I just assumed that she only saw me as a friend because I figured she would've made a move on me otherwise.

"How do I know you're not saying that to make me feel better?" I asked.

"I am saying it to make you feel better." She said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Don't I get one?" asked Marcus.

"Only if you break your nose too." said Rachel.

"Speaking of which," said Marcus, quick to change the subject, "Why didn't you let us tell the principal that Oz attacked you?"

"Because… I feel sorry for him." I said.

"How can you feel sorry for him after everything he's done to you?" asked Rachel.

"You guys know that Oz is poor, right?"

"Yeah, so?" said Marcus.

"Everything he does is just to draw attention away from that. He doesn't want to get teased about being poor any more than Rachel does about her nose."

"That doesn't make it okay, though." said Rachel.

"If he was to get expelled, he wouldn't be able to go back to school," I said, "It's not like his family is rolling around in money."

"Serves him right for beating people up." said Marcus.

"I guess…" I said, "I just don't have it in me to do that to him."

Rachel put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a nice, warm smile. I knew she would understand. When I was 10, my parents died in a car accident. My sister, who was 20 at the time, then became my legal guardian and has been ever since. I remember what it was like to have no money. Of course, now that her photography business is going well, income just isn't an issue for her anymore.

"Leave me alone you rusty hunk of junk!" shouted Oz.

"Now what!?" snapped Rachel.

"It's coming from that alley across the street." gasped Marcus.

"He might be in trouble," I said running ahead, "Come on!"

"Riley! Get back here you retard!" shouted Rachel, grabbing Marcus' hand and dragging him along with her.

Once I got across the alley, I saw something that I've never seen before. Oz, getting his ass handed to him by some sort of robot. Picture an armour-clad knight with what looked like an archaic television for a chest. This was definitely not a human knight though, because although it stood up on two legs, it looked absolutely nothing like a person. By now, the others had caught up to me.

"What is that thing!?" yelped Rachel, hiding behind me.

"Who cares what it is?" asked Marcus, "It's winning!"

"I'm going to help him." I said.

"But, Riley… That's Oz." said Rachel.

"Yeah, I know."

"He wouldn't help you."

"Yeah, I know."

"I might not like him, but nobody, not even Heath Ostreicher deserves to die." I said, interjecting with a second thought before the others could.

"I'm with Riley on this one, Rachel." said Marcus.

"But, what can we do?" she asked, nervously.

"Here," said Marcus, handing her his keys, "Go get my van. Riley and I will try to lure that thing out into the street. So, when you see it, make road kill out of it!"

Rachel turned tail and ran. She almost got hit by a car, but luckily her gymnastics training paid off and she leapt clean over it in a somersault. Once she was gone, Marcus and I ventured deeper into the alley.

"Push him over here, Oz! I shouted, hopping up and down to get his attention.

"What are you doing here, Bishop?" he asked, straining against the monster.

"Does this look like a good time to play twenty questions?"

"Good point!"

Oz gave a mighty heave and forced his assailant towards the street. It turned around and threw a punch as awkwardly as a drunk guy in a bar fight. I ducked and grabbed at its legs while Marcus leaned out of the way. The monster tripped and began to fall forward, so Oz hopped over me like a barricade and slammed down on the monster with his massive elbow. Marcus and I stood up grabbed its head, while Oz rolled off and grabbed it's feet. We carried the monster out into the street and dropped it in the middle of traffic just as Rachel roared pass in Marcus' van. We watched from the safety of the sidewalk as Rachel switched into reverse and drove over the monster again and parked it.

"Get in, get in, GET IN" she shouted frantically through open windows.

"Relax, baby, the van is parked on top of whatever that thing is." said Oz; giving Rachel the same smile that he gave the cheerleaders.

"I kicked you for a reason, you asswipe," she snapped, "Just because Riley saved you, doesn't mean any of us forgive you."

"We can't stay parked here forever," I said, "Drive away and see what happens."

Rachel floored the accelerator and the van burned rubber before speeding away.

"How're we doing, Marcus?" asked Rachel.

"I think it's still chasing us," he said, poking his head out through the open window, "I think you just made it angry!"

"Me!?" snapped Rachel, "You're the one who told me to take your van and make road kill out of it!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know it could survive that?"

"Knock it off you two!" I shouted, "This is a really bad time to argue. We need a new plan."

"Then let's lead it to a power plant," said Oz, "I'd like to see it survive after I shove it into a power box."

"Sounds good to me," said Rachel, "Where's the closest one?"

"13's plant is near the edge of the sector," I said, "Hang a right at the lights up ahead and then head straight down that street."

Rachel followed my directions to the letter. After about twenty minutes, we reached a small hill and began to drive up its sloping path, when we reached the top, there was Plant #13. Everyone scrambled out of the van.

"Where is it?" asked Oz, frantically scouring the hill top.

"Maybe we lost it?" suggested Marcus.

"Think again!" said a fierce, grating voice.

It had appeared from literally out of nowhere. It seemed to have teleported somehow. Luckily, it appeared in such a place that one good hit would send it toppling backwards into that metal caged thing with all the wires.

"Everyone, hit the deck!" snarled Oz, sprinting towards the monster with the speed of a train.

He tackled it in the stomach and pushed it down with his hands. The monster started writhing and flailing.

"NO!" screamed a voice from behind us somewhere.

A man dressed in silver tights and a motorcycle helmet dashed forward. He appeared to have run all the way over here.

"Electricity will only make it stronger!" moaned the man, desperately.

He pulled the monster back up and then pulled out some sort of bladed weapon that had four points. After twirling it around for a moment, he started slashing wildly. The monster let out a blood-curdling scream before it exploded, sending binary code everywhere.

"Cool." muttered Oz.

The man looked relieved and then fell to his knees. His suit disintegrated, leaving him gasping for breath on the ground. He was wearing a very nice black suit and a sparkling silver tie which matched with the patches of silver in his brown hair. Once he got to his feet, I could see his face. I recognized him immediately.

"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!" I squealed, frantically.

"I take it you know this guy?" asked Oz, sarcastically.

"That's Stephen Silverstone," I gasped, "He developed Silversoft, the most popular operating system of all time when he was only 15. I've idolized him since I first used a Silversoft computer."

"I prefer to be called 'Silver'," said Silver, "It's not safe here, follow me back to my mansion."

Silver led us to his car, which he had left parked halfway up the hill. It was the fanciest car any of us had ever seen. It was spacious, but really didn't look like it from the outside.

"Silver, I would sell my soul for one of these bad boys," said Oz, "How much did you pay for it?"

"What soul?" snorted Rachel.

"Oh, only $100," said Silver, ignoring Rachel, "It's just a modified DeLorean."

"Unbelievable…"

"I could probably do the same to all of your cars too," said Silver, "Of course, you'd need plutonium for fuel, but other than that…"

The car made absolutely no noise at all. It was actually kind of creepy. We rode in the muted car all the way to Sector 0, which is the very middle of Metro City. Things like the central police station, city hall and the largest hospital were in Sector 0. Apparently, so was Silver's mansion. When we arrived, Silver pushed a button on the steering wheel and the driveway opened up, revealing a ramp that led underground. We drove in and parked the car in an empty little room that appeared to be a vault. As we all got out, we could see that there was even a massive vault door.

"Welcome to my humble abode," said Silver, "There are two vaults; this one, which is for the car, and another to the left of this one which is where I keep all my most top-secret and/or dangerous inventions."

He opened the vault door and we stepped out into a massive chamber that had an enormous console in the middle of the room. The console included twenty-one monitors that were all cycling through various angles of Metro City. I approached them, intrigued, to learn that each one said "Sector _". I would assume that each monitor showed footage from one of the twenty-one sectors of the city.

"Each of the cameras can rotate 360° in any direction," said Silver, "There is no part of Metro City that I can't see."

"Why do you need all this?" asked Rachel.

"Because this city is in danger," said Silver, "And, if Metro City falls; it won't be long before the rest of the world goes with it."

"What's the city in danger from?" asked Marcus.

"A criminal by the name of Aaron Kingsley," explained Silver, "You see, five years ago, I discovered that Cyberspace was more than just a mass of information that we created along with the internet. It was actually an alternate dimension that has been growing ever since. After I developed technology that I believed would allow a person to enter Cyberspace, I was contacted by the CDI. They wanted to use my technology to send a mass-murderer and infamous hacker into Cyberspace for a life-sentence because he had been deemed too dangerous for normal prisons."

"I knew I'd heard that name somewhere," I said, "Aaron Kingsley hacked into sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter and stole classified information. Then he used the information to stalk and murder people."

"That he did," said Silver, "The CDI finally caught him after his thirteenth kill. So, when they asked for my technology, I happily provided it. After a few, um, hitches, we successfully managed to send Kingsley into Cyberspace."

"What did the machine do?" asked Rachel.

"Even though Cyberspace is a dimension, only digital information can exist there," said Silver, "So, my machine transformed Kingsley into data and uploaded him into Cyberspace. He's been there ever since."

"But, if he's a hacker," I said, "Then, wouldn't Cyberspace just be one big playground for him?"

"At the time, I thought it was only possible to hack it from the outside," said Silver, "But then, after about two years, Kingsley started sending me e-mails. He said that he had learned how to corrupt data into a virus and make it materialize in our dimension as a monster. At first, I tried to contain the problem by developing extremely powerful anti-virus software, but Kingsley just absorbed it and became even stronger. Before too long, he started calling himself King Trojan and said that he had an army that could annihilate our world."

"I think I saw something like this in a movie once," said Oz, "This guy gets trapped in a computer and threatens to launch all the nuclear missiles and destroy the world's economy."

"This is no movie, though, Heath," said Silver, "This is real. You've seen it for yourselves."

"Don't call me that! Hey wait, how did you know my name?" asked Oz.

"Because I've been watching you all for some time now," said Silver, "I was looking for four candidates to test out my new technology and I think I've finally found them."

"You mean us?" I asked, nervously.

"Yes Riley, I mean you," said Silver, standing up and heading for the other vault, "Have you ever read the Power Rangers comics?"

"Who hasn't?" asked Marcus.

"You saw me as a ranger tonight, I assume?" asked Silver, "It turns out that Cyberspace is connected to the Morphing Grid, which is a power source of untold potential that was created by the Eltarians thousands of years ago. Long story short, this connection resulted in the creation of these."

Silver had opened the vault to reveal five pedestals. The back four were taller and each had glimmering gems sitting on them. The front pedestal was shorter and had a black, steel box on it. The gems looked like they were holographic, but they weren't. I would assume that if you were to look at one under a microscope, you'd see nothing but flowing binary code in the colour of the gem. The rest of the vault contained countless crates, which likely had Silver's other inventions in them.

"I call them Morph Codecs," said Silver, "I found them at an archaeological dig several months ago. There's probably more than four, but these are the only ones that endured my tests."

"What about the one you used?" asked Marcus.

"You mean the Diamond Codec?" asked Silver, "That's a synthetic one that I designed in case of emergencies. So, when I noticed that you were in trouble, I was forced to test it out. It's highly unstable and barely worked as it is."

Silver opened the black box and pulled out four gadgets that looked like a mixture between a watch and a fancy universal remote. He held out his hand, indicating that we should each take one.

"These are your morphers," said Silver, "I call them Digitizers. The Morph Codecs power them and, when activated, download power from the Morphing Grid via Cyberspace which will turn you into Power Rangers."

"Did you hear that!?" said Marcus, excitedly, "We get to be Power Rangers!"

"Maybe." said Silver.

"Okay then, we might get to be Power Rangers."

"The Morph Codecs, not including the Diamond, will only react if you possess a certain genetic trait," said Silver, "I haven't been able to narrow down exactly what gene, but I do know that people who have it have a tendency to spend time with other people with the same gene."

"So, if one of us has the gene, then the rest of us probably will too?" asked Oz.

"You don't count, Oz," said Rachel, "You don't normally hang out with us."

"Give him a break, Rachel," I said, winking at Oz, "He's not going to hit me anymore."

Oz looked confused, but nevertheless winked back at me. It seemed that he was conflicted.

"Unless he kept beating you up because you both had the same gene." She said, correcting her previous statement.

"Now, before I test you, there's something you should know," said Silver, "Once you morph, your Codec will permanently bond with your DNA. It'll be like signing a contract. By taking a Codec, you're essentially accepting all the responsibilities that come with it. Do you think this is something you can handle?"

Marcus and Rachel nodded almost instantly. Oz followed shortly afterwards, which left just me. I knew this was my destiny because I'd been dreaming about it for weeks, but I also knew that I'm a total wimp. But, then again, Marcus and Rachel would be there with me, just like they've always been. Through thick and thin, they've always had my back just like how I've always had theirs. Even Oz would probably have my back now. Feeling more confident, I nodded as well.

"Okay then…" said Silver, grabbing the four Morph Codecs from their respective pedestals.

Silver closed the vault behind him and ushered us towards the middle of the chamber. He had us line up side-by-side and then proceeded to test us. I ended up being last in line.

"Heath," said Silver, contemplating on which Codec to give him, "You are fearless and headstrong. You shall be the Yellow Cyberspace Ranger and wield the mighty Cyber Mallet."

Silver handed Oz the Topaz Codec, which, much to everyone's surprise, glowed brightly in his outstretched palm as Silver moved on to the next person in line.

"Rachel," said Silver, still contemplating, "You are gentle and compassionate. You shall be the Blue Cyberspace Ranger and wield a pair of battle forks called the Cyber Sais."

Silver placed the Sapphire Codec in Rachel's petite hand and smirked when it began to glow just like Oz's did. Next, Silver came to Marcus.

"Marcus," he said, slowly, "You are reliable and loyal. You shall be the Green Cyberspace Ranger and wield the lethal Cyber Spear."

Marcus grabbed the Emerald Codec from Silver's hand excitedly. When he opened his hand, nobody was surprised to see that it was glowing. Last and certainly not least, came me.

"You want me to be the Red Ranger?" I said, incredulously.

"Yes Riley," said Silver, "You are noble and selfless, so, I choose you to be the Red Cyberspace Ranger. You will wield the deadly Cyber Blade and lead the team."

Silver handed the Ruby Codec to me; it felt warm in my hand and glowed brightly momentarily before shorting out.

"You have to be confident," said Silver, "The Morph Codecs can pick up on stuff like that. If you don't believe in yourself, then the Codecs won't either."

"I'll try." I said, feebly.

Silver sat down at the console and pressed a button on the keyboard. All twenty-one monitors changed to work as one big monitor rather than a bunch of individual ones.

"Like I mentioned earlier," said Silver, "Your powers come with responsibilities. Part of being responsible is to follow these five rules."

"Bah… I hate rules!" groaned Oz.

The segmented monitor was now listing the five rules. They were pretty straightforward.

You must not use your powers for personal gain.

You must keep your powers a secret to the best of your abilities.

You must not fight anything that non-rangers can handle.

You must evacuate civilians to safety before engaging a threat.

You must not use the Zords unless it's absolutely necessary.

Most of those rules were things that we would probably never do anyway, but, it was reassuring that Silver showed them to us all. Now, if we ever break any of the rules, it'll be our fault, which just means we have to be that much more careful.

"I have a few additions," said Silver, "When morphed, make sure you refer to each other as your colour, not your names."

"As in, Blue Ranger?" asked Rachel.

"No, that's tacky," said Silver, "Go with either Ranger Blue or just simply Blue."

"Okay, I think I can remember that."

"Lastly," said Silver, "Don't be like the rangers in the comics and constantly wear your ranger colours in civilian form. You might as well just wear the suit with your helmet off."

The rules on the monitors disappeared and they returned to showing twenty-one individual camera angles of the city.

"I've programmed the Codecs to install information into your brains automatically," said Silver, "Once I activate the Digitizers, you'll instantly learn everything there is to know about being a ranger."

"You had said the Codecs would bond with our DNA," said Rachel, "What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that nobody but you can morph using your Codec," said Silver, "However, anybody can use your Digitizers."

"Yeah, but without a Morph Codec nothing will happen, right?" asked Oz.

"Correct," said Silver, "I engineered the Codecs that way for that exact reason."

"We get Zords, right?" asked Marcus, who still sounded overjoyed.

"Of course," said Silver, "You wouldn't be Power Rangers without them."

"Can we see them?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because the Zords are inside your Codecs," said Silver, firmly, "Your special genetic trait is linked to your soul. So, they'll take on the appearance of an animal that reflects who you are as a person."

At his words, we all looked closely at our Codecs. I could see the shape of a fox outlined in the flowing binary code that made up my Codec.

"Mine's a fox." I said.

"I've got a swordfish, like the one in that boring Ernest Hemmingway book we had to read for English class." said Rachel.

"It's called a marlin." said Silver.

"Rock on!" said Oz, "I got a rhino!"

"What do you have, Marcus?" I asked.

"It looks like Oz's father…" He said, "No, wait, it's just a gorilla."

"Very funny." said Oz.

"As I design new Zords, they'll be added to your Codecs too." said Silver.

Just then, a deafening klaxon blared and the whole chamber flashed red as siren lights on the ceiling lit up.

"What's up with the old school alarm?" asked Oz, "It sounds like the horn of a jalopy."

"Heath, it's an alarm," said Silver, "What difference does it make?"

"What are those things?" asked Marcus, looking at the monitors.

The monitors showed a swarm of people wearing full body, pitch black tights that had some sort of armour that was designed to look like a wire frame x-ray of their bodies.

"Replicators," said Silver, "They're nothing more than expendable pawns."

"Why are they called Replicators?" I asked.

"Because they replicate, obviously," said Silver, "You have to destroy them quickly before they can multiply."

"I guess this is it," said Marcus, "Our first test as Power Rangers."

"I'll come with you," said Silver, "You know, since it's your first time..."

"Let's get going then," I said, my voice faltering despite my best efforts, "We've got work to do."


	2. Becoming

Sector 0, Town Square  
Metro City, Canada  
April 28th, 2015  
7:00 PM

"**Rachel Parker"**

Riley looked like he was about to faint as Silver drove as fast as he could down his twisting driveway which was on a hill, like Plant #13, only much taller. Silver's mansion rested atop it. I kept staring at Riley, but he didn't notice. He was too preoccupied trying to make his Codec glow again. He might not realize it, but he's the perfect choice for being our leader. After all, he was the first of us to rush into that alley to help Oz.

"Come on, come on…" he muttered under his breath.

Riley Bishop was skinny and pale. He had messy, black hair and a boney nose that was now crooked and bandaged thanks to Oz. His eyes were hazel and hardened. When you looked into them, you could almost see all the tragic things that he had endured. To the casual observer, Riley would not be considered good looking, like Oz. That's because his best features were his personality and intelligence. The school actually had to create an AP Computer course just for him. He's always been gifted at building and fixing things. I gave him my watch to fix one time and he returned it saying that it was now a calculator as well. He's decent at programming too, although I don't know much about that kind of stuff. He must have a photographic memory or something, because even though he never seems to study, he passes most tests easily, even though he played video games most of the night.

"You really don't like those glasses?" I asked, trying to take his mind off his Codec.

"No, I feel like a big nerd in them."

"You are a big nerd, Riley."

"Yeah, I know."

"But, you don't want other people to know?"

"Not if they learn it just by looking at my glasses."

"Well, just like how I never got a nose job because you told me I wouldn't be "me" if I did, I want you to keep wearing those glasses even you don't like them."

"Why are you so obsessed with these?"

"I don't know… There's just something about them."

In truth, I think I knew all too well why I liked those glasses. I've always liked Riley's eyes. Looking into them has always made me feel safe. Probably because of how often I would be over at his place when we were younger. My father used to drink; a lot. In fact, saying he used to drink is like saying an elephant is large. It just doesn't do it justice. So, I would escape him by hiding at Riley's house. His parents often referred to me as his "not-sister", because, obviously I wasn't really his sister, but I spent so much time there that I could have been if he didn't already have one.

"How's he doing?" asked Marcus.

"Nervous," I said, "I figure that once he morphs, he'll realize that he had nothing to fear."

"Did you hear him earlier?" asked Marcus, "He offered to trade Codecs with me."

"Why didn't you take it?" asked Oz, "You could've been the leader!"

"Because that's not how it works, Oz." said Marcus.

"Being leader doesn't mean you're better than the others," said Rachel, "It just means you have to make hard decisions."

"Riley has always sort of led us," said Marcus, "Unofficially, of course."

"He'd just boss you around?" asked Oz.

"There's a difference between being bossy and being a leader," said Silver, "Besides, the Ruby wouldn't have glowed for you or Marcus."

"Why not?" said Oz.

"Because you're not a leader, Oz, you're a battle commander. Two totally different jobs, but both are equally as important." said Rachel.

"It was Riley's idea to help me, wasn't it?" asked Oz.

"Yeah," said Marcus, "He knew it wasn't logical, but he did it anyway."

"I think I get it now." said Oz.

After what felt like hours, Silver slammed on the brakes and the car rotated 90°, blocking off the street we came from. We all hurried out, except for Riley, who still looked nervous.

"We beat them here," said Silver, "They're probably still making their way through the park. Everyone insert your Morph Codecs into the case on top of your Digitizers."

This city was the first one in Canada to implement a unique grid layout. There were twenty different sectors that encircled Town Square. Town Square was collectively referred to as Sector 0, which made no sense, because it wasn't even connected to the any of the others. Sector 1 began the chain directly in the northwest, then, continuing clockwise, it went to Sector 2, then Sector 3 and all the way up to Sector 20.

"While we've got a chance, I'll tell you how to destroy Replicators," said Silver, "Their wire frame armour leads to a small core on their chests. Hit that, and it should delete them instantly. It's your best bet if you want to make sure they can't multiply."

Silver couldn't have timed that any better. Before he had even finished saying the last word, a group of eight Replicators had materialized out of thin air.

"They don't look so tough!" jeered Oz, cracking his knuckles eagerly, "I can take them right here and right now!"

We all rolled our eyes as Oz charged at the Replicators head on. They just stood motionless, and at first, it really seemed like he was actually going to hit them, until a second before he would've made contact when they all pivoted out of his way. Once Oz had stopped, he looked around, trying to find them. Before we could warn him, one of the Replicators took out some sort of gun and shot it at Oz's back. Instead of hurting him, he became trapped in a strange wire frame bubble that was connected to the gun by a chain. The Replicator threw his arm back, which caused Oz to be yanked through the air, following the motion until the orb burst and Oz continued to fall. It took us a while to realize that he was going to crash into us, but by then it was too late and before we knew it, we were all sprawled on the ground.

"Please tell me you've learned something from this." groaned Marcus.

"Yeah," groaned Oz, "Never go bowling with one of those guys."

"Guys, they're heading this way!" moaned Riley, checking his nose to make sure it hadn't broken again.

"What do we do, Silver?" asked Marcus, "They're too strong for us!"

"Not for long…" he said, pushing a button on a remote he had withdrawn from his pocket.

The effects were instantaneous. We got gingerly to our feet, and I could hear a faint whirring sound coming from my Digitizer. My Codec was glowing so brightly in the plastic case on top of it that it looked like an actual light. The others seemed to notice as well, because they were all examining their Digitizers too. I turned to my left, expecting to see Riley's glow too, but it wasn't. Suddenly I felt a brief surge radiate through my body, starting at the right wrist. As the strange sensation went away, it occurred to me that I was no longer afraid, I was no longer in pain and I knew exactly how to use the Digitizer on my wrist. I felt sorry for Riley, because even though he's our leader, he couldn't be the one to do what I was about to do.

"Ready?" I asked, turning my head to check on them.

"Ready!" called Marcus and Oz together.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" we screamed together.

Our morphing action was to throw up our left fist at neck level, then move our right fist in to form a sort of '+' shape. From there, our right fist went up into the air, bent at the elbow; then the last part was to thrust out of left fist into an open palm and then bring it up to push the button on our Digitizers on our right wrist.

Upon pushing the button, I could see a swirling tornado of 0s and 1s come from out of my Codec and encircle me. It kept swirling faster and faster becoming more and more, narrow as it did so until it collided with me in a small explosion. I had a blue ranger suit on now and felt myself leap high into the air, rotating slightly as I rose. By the time I reached the height of my jump, I had my helmet on too. During my descent, the strange dimension faded from around me until my feet crashed down on the cement of Sector 0. I know that to anybody who would've seen that, the whole process would've occurred in the blink of an eye. I also knew that I hadn't really moved. My theory is that time freezes for all civilians and monsters when a ranger morphs, because what I went through was definitely real. Riley seemed to have seen the same thing as us, because he was blinking rapidly and his mouth was wide open.

"This feels incredible!" shouted Ranger Green.

"This is just what we needed!" shouted Ranger Yellow.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! It worked!" cheered Silver, "I knew it!"

"In theory, anyways…" sighed Riley, shaking his whole arm up and down.

"Remember what I told you, Riley?" asked Silver, "The Codec is working fine. The only thing standing in its way is you."

The Replicators had swarmed us by now. I was totally overwhelmed and shrieked in panic.

"Calm down, you three!" called Silver, "Read the words on your screen and it will tell you how to summon your weapons!"

Despite being surrounded, I somehow managed to dodge the majority of the Replicator's attacks instinctively. Silver was right, of course. Now that I could focus a little better, I could see what looked like a chat room on displayed on my visor. It was listing which buttons to push and what words to say to do all sorts of things. I was itching to try out my sais, so I pushed the button that my visor indicated and yelled:

"Download weapon!"

The weapons looked just like the Morph Codecs; almost as they were holograms. Yet, I could still grip them tightly with my gloved hands. Once I had them ready, I stayed low to the ground and spun around on my toe, entering a pirouette that slashed the group of Replicators that were around me. As I swung the sais; pretty trails of binary code were left behind almost like the cursor trails on a mouse. Three of my attackers fell down, but quickly got back up again. I tried to cleave through them to escape, but there were too many. What started off as roughly eight had now become at least twenty, and eight of them were all picking on me. I couldn't see beyond them, so I had no idea of how the others were faring. These new powers were great, but I had no idea how to use them effectively. I felt so stupid.

"Give it a rest!" shouted Riley, "She'd never go out with creeps like you!"

I heard a sickening clang as he struck a Replicator right in the chest with a stop sign. It flailed frantically and then imploded.

"Riley!" I snapped, "Stay back! You won't stand a chance against them until you can morph!"

I was so proud of him. Riley hates waiting. He's the most impatient person I know. If he ends up having to wait longer than five seconds for a computer to do something, he flips out and takes it apart so he can improve it even more. I also knew he was absolutely terrified, but yet, somehow he had overcome his fears to help me. Either that or he just got bored of waiting for his Codec to glow again. I had zoned out, lost in thought, because I snapped out of it when I heard another clang. I looked up to see another Replicator implode. Now, I had an opening. I could break free now.

"Come on!" I shouted, grabbing the stop sign to pull Riley to safety.

It turns out that Rangers Yellow and Green were having better luck. Yellow was putting all of his strength into a swing of his enormous sledgehammer weapon, which stunned the Replicators upon impact. Then, Green would come along in Yellow's wake and finish them off with his spear; the only problem was that they weren't doing it fast enough. For every one they destroyed, two more would appear and replace them.

"I appreciate your help, Riley, but I can't protect you and myself at the same time, so please stay out of this for now, okay?" I said gently, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Behind you!" he screamed, frantically.

I saw the blast coming at the last minute. I was lifted into the air and then was slammed down to the ground. It went on and on. All I could do was float there and take it.

"Ranger Blue!" yelled Riley.

I tried to call back to him to get the others to help me, but couldn't say it fast enough. The first syllable died in my throat as I hit the ground for what felt like the billionth time.

"I've got to do something." he panicked.

"Why?" asked Silver.

"What do you mean, why!?" snapped Riley.

"Why do YOU have to do something?"

"Because she's my friend…"

"And?"

There was a long pause, wherein Riley tried to understand what Silver was trying to do. I really hoped I'd stay up in the air long enough to hear the whole conversation.

"…Because I know that I can help her." said Riley.

With that, Riley's Codec exploded with light. It was shining so brightly that it literally made a pillar.

"Let her go!" yelled Riley, confidently.

The light from his Codec was higher up than I was by now. The Replicators didn't seem to care. They just sort of chuckled to themselves.

"Fine then," said Riley, menacingly, "Don't say I didn't warn you."

They slammed me down again and the bubble I was trapped in finally broke, leaving me on the ground, writhing in pain.

"Go for it…" I groaned.

Riley winked at me and stepped forward, shielding me from harm.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Instantly, Riley's Digitizer sent the same swirling tornado of binary that I had seen. It kept swirling faster and faster becoming more and more, narrow as it did so until it collided with him in a small explosion. Now wearing an impressive red ranger suit, Riley leapt high into the air, rotating slightly as he rose. When he crashed back down, his helmet was gleaming in the moonlight.

"Download weapon!" he called.

His weapon materialized in his hand. It was a powerful, stylish long sword. Near the cross-guard, imprinted onto the blade itself was binary code. It must say something. Binary is kind of a language, right? Only computers can read it, but I mean, just because I can't read Mandarin doesn't mean it's not a language, so, then, does the same rule apply for binary? At that same section of the sword, the edges were serrated on both sides. It added a bit of flair to it, as well as more functionality.

"Are you okay, Blue?" asked Ranger Red, pulling me to my feet.

"I think so." I said, readying my weapons again.

"You take the ten on the left; I'll take the ten on the right."

"That works for me."

With a flourish of his sword, Red charged into the swarm of Replicators. About halfway there, he threw his sword into the ground and then kicked off of it like a pro. Now hovering above them, he pulled out the laser pistol from his holster and made it rain down beams of energy.

"Hey, check it out, guys," chuckled Ranger Red, "I made them dance!"

He landed, somersaulted forward, picking up his sword as he went.

Meanwhile I had been taunting the Replicators by cartwheeling around a circle of them. After several minutes, they all seemed to be dizzy, so I stopped and began jabbing their chests with my sais. My aim wasn't all that great, but, then again, neither was Ranger Red's. I seriously doubt that he had been trying to make them dance.

Before too long, both Red and I were fresh out of Replicators, so we went over to where Yellow and Green were to lend a hand.

"We need a new plan!" sputtered Ranger Yellow, "We've doing this for a while and yet they keep coming!"

"How can you not have noticed that they were replicating, you big oaf!?" snapped Green.

"I leave you two alone for ten minutes and you're already at each other's throats." said Ranger Red as we approached.

"Ri- I mean, Red? You morphed?" gasped Green, high fiving him.

"He's just a late bloomer." I said, trying to rumple his hair until I remembered we were all wearing helmets.

"There's eleven left!" snarled Yellow, "My arms aren't even tired yet! Isn't this the greatest?"

"There's eight left, dude..." groaned Ranger Green.

"Whatever, you know I'm not here because of my brains."

"I say we split up," said Ranger Red, "It seems to be the only way to make sure none of them are left alone long enough to multiply."

"That's what we were doing, and now we ran out of goons." I said.

"So, Ranger Yellow," said Red, "If there are eight Replicators and four of us, how many do each of us get?"

"Don't make me hit you this thing." said Yellow, raising his hammer warningly.

"The answer is two, by the way..." muttered Green.

"Let's squash them like bugs!" bellowed Ranger Yellow, preparing to charge forward again.

"Don't do that..." said Red, "Remember what happened last time?"

"Oh, yeah..."

"On my word, we'll all go together, okay?"

We all nodded. Even Yellow seemed to understand why we had accepted Red as our leader so quickly. Because he was a natural. He wasn't necessarily the best fighter, but his mind was a like a super computer.

"Now!" shouted Ranger Red.

I reached my Replicators first and practically pounced on them, landing with my sais stuck in their chests. They started shaking convulsively and then they imploded, which shocked me, because once they were gone, I fell to the ground as my platform vanished. I looked around, eager to see how the others handled their pair of Replicators.

Yellow had apparently lifted his mallet high over his head as he had ran towards his targets, because he was now checking the head of his weapon to see if there was any Replicator goo while pinning the second one to the ground with his foot. When he was sure there was nothing to clean up, he crushed the remaining Replicator's head without ever standing up.

Ranger Green seemed to be trying to copy moves from "The Matrix", which only didn't work because there wasn't enough Replicators for him to work with. I watched as he twirled his spear above his head, like he was trying to fly like a helicopter, before he stabbed one Replicator with the sharp end and flip it around in flash to stab the other one.

Lastly, Red was locked in combat with his only remaining foe. Their weapons were clashing. The Replicator was using two sleek daggers while Ranger Red was using his sword. At first, it seemed as though the Replicator was going to overpower him, until Red pivoted away and swung his sword blindly. When he peered over his shoulder to see, I could hear him chuckle triumphantly as the both halves of the Replicator fell to the ground.

. "Nice job everyone." said Silver, hopping out of the car, "Especially you, Red. I knew you could do it."

"Apparently, so did I." said Ranger Red.

"The Digitizers work perfectly," said Silver, "Now you just need to get the hang of those powers."

"Well look who it is!" jeered a high-pitched voice that sounded like that of an evil clown.

We all turned around and gasped as we saw that there was a man standing behind us. He could only be Trojan. His veins appeared to be visible on the outside of his skin, but rather than being round and smooth, his veins were straight lines with corners almost liked a circuit. His whole body had the same texture and appearance of our weapons and Morph Codec. Over his right eye was a hunk of metal with a menacing red light that was blinking randomly. His hair was thin and greasy, which along with the overall unkempt appearance of him, implied that he rarely ever bathed. His left cheek had a nasty "X" shaped scar and he was wearing a thick, black leather trench coat over top of a white office shirt with a tie patterned with binary. Not quite what I was expecting...

"Long time, no see, Aaron." said Silver.

"Is that anyway to address a king?"

"You're no king... You're a monster; a heartless, murderous monster!"

"Stick and stones, Stephen, sticks and stones."

"Silver, how can he be here if he's in Cyberspace?" I said.

Trojan was scary. Not in a traditional sense, but in a more disturbing sense. When you looked at him, you could basically see everything evil about him. It was like his humanity was gone and all Trojan is some kind of empty shell.

"He IS in Cyberspace. What we're seeing is a holographic image." said Silver.

Ranger Red suddenly swung his sword at the holograph. It made contact, and made the image go all weird.

"Then why can I attack it?" asked Red.

"When you morph, you become digital, just like the holograph," said Silver, "So, because your ranger powers exist in the same dimension as the holograph, you can touch it... Watch."

Silver stepped forward until he was standing inside the image of Trojan.

"I can't touch him, because I'm not in the same dimension as him." he said.

"Is it actually talking to us, or is it just some sort of recording?" asked Yellow.

"I don't know. But when Red attacked it, I think he paused it." said Silver.

Just then, the hologram appeared to reset itself. You could actually see it happen.

"I didn't choose the name, you know. But, when you use your skills to create a new form of life from something that never had a real brain, it tends to cause things to worship you." said the Holograph.

"What kind of king manipulates his followers into being sent to a different dimension?" I asked, in disgust.

"The ones who believe in their cause, the ones who go down in history as being tyrants, the ones who people learn to fear..."

"Aaron, have you met my army yet?" asked Silver, "It might not be a big as yours, but something tells me it's still stronger."

"You expect me to be afraid of four mortals in technicolour spandex?"

"Not right away, no," said Silver, "Once you understand what they're capable of, then, maybe."

"I FEAR NOTHING!" screamed the holograph.

As the holograph vanished, it must have released a shockwave of something. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to knock us off our feet and revert us back into our civilian forms.

"What the hell was that?" wheezed Oz.

"I think it was some sort electromagnetic pulse." said Silver, who hadn't been affected by the shockwave at all.

"You mean an EMP?" said Riley, getting to his feet.

"It would explain why it didn't do anything to me."

"There was no way that was a recording, Silver," I said, "It was actually talking to us. It even knew when to disappear and attack us with that electro thing."

"This is bad," He said, "His powers are getting stronger every day."

"So will ours," said Riley, "You said it yourself earlier, Silver. Cyberspace is constantly expanding. If these Codecs were created from Cyberspace, then their powers should too."

"No, Riley, the Codecs are no longer IN Cyberspace, so, they can only get stronger over time. The more you use them, the stronger the bond between you and your Codecs will become." said Silver.

"Well, whatever!" said Riley, "With the four of working together, there's nothing that can stand in our way!"

"I really hope you're right, Riley..." said Silver, ushering us back into the car.


	3. The 'I' in 'Team'

Sector 13 High School  
Metro City, Canada  
May 6th, 2015  
4:17 PM

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

"So, Oz," said Brody, "Where've you been these last few days?"

"I already told you," I said, "I got busted by the principal for breaking that douchebag Riley's nose."

"You didn't get expelled?"

"Nope."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I don't know," I said, "I just didn't."

We were in the school gym. I was spotting Brody as he bench-pressed a hundred pound weight above his head.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Who cares, dude?" I asked, "Even if I had been given the boot, my folks'd just cough up more dough and send me somewhere else."

"Yeah, I suppose," said Brody, "What do they do again?"

"Mom is a realtor and Dad is a car salesman."

"Oh, right, right, right. I remember now."

I was so glad to have stupid friends. I'm not saying that I'm all that smart either, but still, they never question what I tell them. By now, they should know that I'm actually the poorest kid at this school. Mom lost everything in the divorce. Dad paid child support for a while, but after he died from cancer that stopped. Plus, now that I'm 18, the fucking government doesn't consider me to be eligible for substitute payments. Next, for some ungodly reason, Dad's life insurance went to his sister, who is a famous actress in America. What the hell does she need that money for? It's not fair! If it weren't for my job at the hardware store, we wouldn't even have our mobile home. I was fortunate enough to have stopped growing before Dad left, so all the clothes I had still fit me and the fancy car he gave me is still around. The money I earn goes straight into gas money and bank loan payments. Mom almost turned schizophrenic after the divorce and hasn't worked since. In a nutshell, it's a miracle that Brody and everyone else haven't figured out the truth about me yet.

"You want to come to my place tonight? I'm throwing a party."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I can." said Brody.

"You throw parties every weekend," I said, "How do you manage to get away with that?"

"It helps when nobody is ever home to stop me," said Brody, "My folks are on another book tour."

"I might show up," I said, "I presume you need me to buy the keg?"

"Well duh, you're the only one that's old enough."

"Well, I'm not paying for it," I said, "You do realize that I could go to jail for supplying booze to minors, right?"

"Just take some cash from my wallet, then."

In Brody's defense, I'm a pretty decent liar. I'm sure you noticed what I just did there. Rather than say I can't afford it, I used legal crap on him. Maybe that's not really "lying", but I certainly didn't tell him the real reason. I looked in Brody's wallet. There was at least a grand in there! See, he's legitimately rich, but I'm just a fraud.

"I'm sure glad we don't live in America," said Brody, "Those poor pricks have to be 21 to buy beer."

"Yeah…" I muttered, absent-mindedly.

Just then, my Codec lit up and my Digitizer beeped. Silver was paging me.

"Is that your wacky watch again?" asked Brody.

"No, your sister is sexting me."

"Fuck you…" said Brody, "Wait! I don't have a sister…"

"No, but I uh, have to go take a dump." I said.

"Go for it man, I'm not even tired yet."

"It's probably going to take a while…" I said, trying to hint that I wouldn't be coming back.

"Did you have a big lunch or something?"

"Never mind, I'll see you at the party tonight if I can make it there."

I ran through the gym and into the parking lot, then across the street into the alley where Bishop had saved me. Once I was in the clear, I held out my wrist and pushed the smallest button on my Digitizer which made a miniature holograph of Silver appear.

"Are you there, Silver?" I said to it.

"Heath, I'm picking up a signal nearby and I don't think its Replicators."

"It must be a full-fledged virus then." I said.

"That would be my guess, too. The signal is much stronger than usual."

"Good because I was getting bored."

"The others are on their way," said Silver, "Meet up with them and then look for the virus together."

"Screw that," I said, "I can handle this on my own. I damn near killed the last one alone too, and that was before I could morph."

"Heath, listen to me! DO NOT engage that virus without back-up!"

"Sorry, you're breaking up." I said, disconnecting from the call.

I was very conflicted; my whole life, I had been being a jerk to all the wrong people. Bishop and his shadows were the kind of people I should've been friends with. But, instead, I was stupid and decided to hang out with morons like Brody. Sure, he's nice enough, but I know that the second he was to find out the truth about me, he'd be gone and I'd become a laughing stock like Bishop already is. What's weird though is that Riley doesn't even seem to be affected by it. I guess he only cares about what his friends think of him. As for why he didn't turn me in to the principal, I have no idea. I also don't know why he saved me or why he isn't even angry at me for breaking his nose. His friends still are, but why isn't he? Whatever the reason, I had decided not to try forcing my way into their passé until I know they want me in there. You know what I mean? Besides, I really don't need their help all the time. Who cares if Silver doesn't believe me? Once I prove to him that I'm right, it won't matter anymore anyways.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I shouted.

No matter how many times I morphed, I doubt it would ever get old. First came the swirling tornado of 0s and 1s that encircled me, getting faster and narrower until it collided with me in a small explosion. When the smoke cleared, I had my yellow ranger suit on and leapt high into the air. At the height of my jump, my helmet materialized on my head. During my descent, the strange dimension faded from around me until my feet landed on the filthy, grimy ground of the dark alley.

"**Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"**

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Silver?" asked Rachel.

"Don't tell me you've suddenly started to care about Oz." said Marcus.

"Well, no, but, it's still awfully risky."

"Rachel, it's for Heath's own good." I said.

I had been a little nervous about letting Heath be a ranger for this exact reason. He's not a very good team player. When I was watching him for research purposes, I could tell. Even when he's playing football, he rarely ever includes his team in the game. I probably should've sent him away, but the chances of finding another suitable candidate were slim to none. That's why I decided to test him. His reaction when I called him was exactly what I thought it would be.

"Silver knows what he's doing, Rach," said Riley, "Besides, once Oz realizes that he's not as great as he thinks he is, he'll call for us."

"I just hope he's not too stubborn," said Rachel, "If he gets himself killed because he's too proud to admit it, then it'll be all our fault."

"No, Rachel, it will be my fault." I said.

"But-"

"It was my idea; therefore it will be my fault."

"You worry too much Rachel." said Marcus.

"I know."

"Dude, let her worry," said Riley, "It's what she does when she doesn't know what else to do."

I looked at the monitor and saw Heath in ranger form, running across the train tracks. He was using his Digitizer to track the virus' signature. Mine had a much longer range than theirs, so if he was using it, he must be close enough to the virus for it to show up on his Digitizer. I typed in instructions for all of the cameras to follow Heath.

"Those cameras can move?" asked Marcus.

"Of course they can," I said, "They wouldn't be much good to me if they couldn't."

I could've sworn I had told them about the cameras already. I designed them so that they could respond to commands remotely and move around by hovering. The rangers must have thought they were attached to the buildings or something.

"They even have microphones on them." I said, flicking a switch to activate the microphones.

"I was wondering how we'd hear Oz calling to us," said Marcus, "Well, we've probably got some time to kill. I vote we play strip poker."

"Marcus, you're terrible at poker," said Rachel, "I know you only said that because you want to see me take my clothes off."

"I can't even beat her at cards." said Riley.

"Yeah, but you suck too." said Marcus.

The sirens went off automatically and the monitors switched from individual mode to mass mode. Heath had found the virus in Sector 11's scrapyard. I watched as it pounced on him and caught him completely by surprise.

"He's not off to a great start…" said Riley.

I held up my hand to silence them. I needed to concentrate. I was going to try and look up the virus by downloading files that had Trojan's digital signature on them. It was a longshot, but I knew that if I did it right, I could end up with a complete encyclopedia of information pertaining to each and every one of the viruses that Trojan had made or even planned to make saved on my computer as an enormous database.

It must have been my lucky day, because I found exactly what I was looking for without much difficulty. In fact, it almost seemed like Trojan had left footprints all over Cyberspace specifically for me to find. But, perhaps I shouldn't worry too much about that right now.

"According to this," I said, beckoning the others closer so they could see the screens, "Heath is going up against virus #8E9X5C7O. Loosely decrypted, it's called the Extension Cord Virus."

"So, the virus used an extension cord in our dimension as a portal and materialized as a mutated monster with the same characteristics?" asked Riley.'

"Basically, yes," I said, "See for yourselves."

I had pulled up a sort of 3D image of the creature. This was amazing. I could even see what kind of attacks to expect from it and what its weakness might be. Now that I knew how much information I had, I couldn't help but wonder about it. There had to be a reason that would explain why I acquired it so easily. Even if it does end up being traceable, I've got the most intricate and powerful antivirus software ever created, so, I'm not all that concerned. This knowledge was just too useful to get rid of.

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

I struggled briefly with whatever had jumped me. It wasn't that strong, but it was hard to get a good enough grip on it to break free.

"Download weapon!" I called, extending my only free hand.

My hammer materialized instantly. I grabbed the handle carefully and raised it high over my head. Making sure that the virus couldn't see, I swung it down towards the back of its head, if I missed, I'd end up hitting myself in the face.

Wham! The virus hissed at me like a snake and slithered away. I got to my feet quickly, still clutching my hammer.

"That wassss a lucky sssshot," it said, "Why don't you jusssst ssssurrender now?"

"Nicccce try, ssssucker!" I teased.

Now I got a good look at the virus. It was bright orange, with a black head and three oddly shaped fangs that protruded out of it. Although it appeared to be a snake, it didn't have scales; in fact, it looked like it was made of rubber. It had feet, but they were black and very small, almost like a centipede's. To be honest, I had no idea how it was managing to stay upright. Finally, it dawned on me: this virus was an extension cord.

Of course, without Silver, I'd have to figure out how being an extension cord would affect it the hard way. By that, I mean, through experience. My Dad always told me that it's okay to make mistakes because it's the easiest way to learn. Ironically, he never made any mistakes, except maybe cheating on my Mom.

The virus interrupted my thought process by sending an arc of electricity at me. It seemed to have come from its teeth thingies. It was a direct hit and stung like a bitch. Doing my best to pretend it hadn't been very painful, I brushed off the area it had hit. Now that I was angry I was going to show it that I meant business.

I charged at it with my shoulder, but it dodged by curving its body away. I was heading for a wall now, and used it to run up and kick off into a backflip. Now I was in the air above the virus' head and readied my mallet during my descent, hoping to crush its head. Without that, it wouldn't be able to zap me anymore. But, since it's a snake, it could probably still live for a while without a head. Or, maybe that's earthworms. It might also be chickens.

Right before my hammer made contact with the virus' head, it dodged again, and I hit the ground, sending a small puff of dust into the air.

"Ssssorry, but you're jusssst too sssslow!" cackled the virus, still hissing as it spoke.

I tried to stand up, but found myself back on the ground as it shocked me again. The arc hit the exact same spot as last time, and therefore hurt twice as much.

"**Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"**

"Silver, he's in trouble," said Rachel, "Can we jump in and rescue him now?"

"No," I said, "You need to wait until he realizes that he can't be a ranger and a lone wolf at the same time. If you don't wait, he'll do the same thing every time thinking that you three will always be there to finish what he started."

"How much longer is it going to take!?" snapped Rachel, "Admit that you need help you moron!"

"Shouldn't be long now," said Riley, "At this point, he's probably realized that brute force isn't the right strategy."

"How can you just watch this!?" scolded Rachel, "You're supposed to be our leader!"

"I can't lead someone who doesn't want to take orders," he said, calmly, "Oz needs to learn his lesson."

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

A storm had kicked up by now and I was starting to get tired. Talk about the worst timing ever. If that virus was to get struck by lightning he'd get even stronger. I tried to stifle a yawn, but failed miserably. Maybe I shouldn't have morphed so early. I used up most of my power by getting here. I put away my weapon and cracked my knuckles.

"Aaawww, issss the big sssstrong ranger already getting ssssleepy?" jeered the virus, "I haven't even broken a ssssweat."

As if a rubber snake would sweat. Wait a second… Rubber; extension cords are made with rubber because they… Err… Shit, why didn't I pay more attention in science class? They, ummmm… Oh, right! They block electricity. So, maybe if I was to grab onto it, it would keep zapping itself until it ran out of energy. It was worth a shot.

I cracked my neck before diving into a forward somersault. My legs kicked the virus' rubber body and pinned it to the ground. It thrashed, squirmed and tried to use its tiny legs to resist. I raised my fist high in the air, but screamed in agony as a lot of things happened all at once. A bolt of lightning hit the ground just as the virus sent a third arc of electricity at me. Both of them seemed to hit at the same time and I was sent flying. I crashed into the very wall I had used to kick myself into the air.

I was so confused and so angry that I didn't even care about what had just happened. My theory had obviously been wrong. I tried to move, but I just didn't have the energy. Despite my efforts to concentrate, I de-morphed, and clutched the spot on my chest that was stinging much worse now without my powers..

Where were the others? Silver had said they would try to meet up with me. I knew I had beaten them to the virus, but that was a while ago. Unless they got lost, they should've showed up by now. Not that I need them or anything, though… Oh, who was I kidding!? Right now, I need them more than ever! Bishop, Rachel and Marcus could've easily hit the virus because their weapons are faster. Not only that, but Bishop would've known about the virus because Silver would've told him. Hell, he might even have been able to warn me about that bolt of lightning. Not to mention, he's a science nerd and would've known to take extra precautions during the rain and everything. But, most importantly, he would have done all that in spite of the fact that we aren't even really friends yet. In spite of the fact that I broke his nose. In spite of everything, he would still help me, because we're supposed to be a team. How could I have been so selfish!?

"WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!? I WAS WRONG! I CAN'T DO THIS BY MYSELF!" I half screamed, half sobbed.

"**Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"**

"WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!? I WAS WRONG! I CAN'T DO THIS BY MYSELF!" came Heath's voice, half screaming, half crying from the monitors.

"Now?" asked Rachel.

"Yes, now." I said.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" shouted the rangers in unison.

Within seconds, three fully clad rangers were standing behind me.

"Rangers, I think you should start teleporting. I assume you still know how?" I said.

"That won't draw too much attention to us?" asked Ranger Green.

"If you do it in civilian form where people can see you, yes," I said, "But, if you do it from here and arrive at your destination already morphed, then no."

"Gotcha." said Green.

"And, uh, Ranger Red," I said, "Those techniques I've asked you not to waste on Replicators?"

"Start using them?" he said, finishing my statement for me.

I nodded, and then returned to my desk, carefully observing Heath on the monitors.

"Let's go guys!" called Red.

I heard a series of beeping, somewhat reminiscent of dial up network noises, which then transitioned into a sort of whooshing sound as three streaks of coloured light soared up through the ceiling. The streaks were binary code, because data was literally being transferred from one place to another.

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

Almost as if in answer to my prayer, I saw three streaks of light land on the ground and revert to their physical forms. The other rangers had arrived.

"Took you long enough!" said Blue, walking forward and holding out her hand.

"What are you talking about?" I said, wincing from the pain as she pulled me to my feet.

"Silver wouldn't let us help you until you admitted to yourself that you need our help." said Ranger Green.

"Yell at us about it later, though," said Ranger Red, "We've still got him to deal with."

"I'm not mad." I said.

If I could see their faces, the rangers would probably have been staring at me with their jaws dropped.

"I understand why he did it," I said, "Remind me to thank him when we get back."

It was true. In fact, it felt like I had weighed a ton before, whereas now, after coming to terms with myself, I felt free, as if all that extra weight had been in a back pack which I was no longer wearing. I haven't actually been genuinely happy in a long time. Beating people up, partying, worrying about my stupid lies and what other people thought of me. None of that made me feel good about myself. Being a ranger, having real friends for the first time in my life and being able stop acting like someone I'm not on the other hand, made me feel great. So great, that the pain in my chest was going away.

"I owe all of you an apology, as well," I said, "I let these powers go to my head. I'm no better than any of you, and we're at our strongest when we fight as a team."

Nobody spoke. Their jaws were probably wide open again.

"From now on, people will say that Oz's heart grew three sizes today." said Ranger Green, in a voice one would use to read a story to children.

"Notice how I'm not trying to punch him?" I asked.

"Yeah, now see if you can morph and go punch that virus instead." said Ranger Red.

I nodded at him and brushed Blue's hand away, which had been supporting me this whole time. Being a ranger also came with many more perks. For example, in the span of maybe, ten minutes starting after I hit the wall, my body had already healed to such a point that it didn't hurt to move anymore. Hopefully, my Codec will have recharged enough by now too. I stepped forward in front of the others, looking the virus right in the eye.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I shouted, triumphantly.

After I had transformed, the others walked forward so that we would be standing in a straight line.

"Sssso, you think you'll sssstand a chancccce againsssst me now that there'ssss four of you?" hissed the virus, "It makessss no differencccce to me. I'll sssstill desssstroy you all!"

"So, Red, got any ideas?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, "Crazy as it might sound, we need to make it attack us."

"Why?"

"When you tackled the virus, it landed in a puddle of water. Rubber usually insulates electricity, but if it's wet, then there's a chance that the integrity of the rubber will be compromised."

"So, that's why I got sent flying backwards?" I asked, "Because the bolt of lightning hit the puddle that the virus and I were in?"

"More or less." said Ranger Red.

"Okay, then let's each take a side," said Green, "Blue and I will take the left and right sides."

"Alright, then Yellow and I will take the front and back sides." said Red.

"Leave the front side to me," I said, "It already seems to be aiming at me, so I might as well be the decoy."

We all separated quickly and cartwheeled, sprinted, or flipped over to our respective spots. The virus seemed puzzled, but could only deal with one side at a time.

"Oooh, I'm sssso sssscared!" hissed the virus.

Rangers Blue and Green had already withdrawn their weapons. Green poked at one of its legs while Blue jabbed its shoulder. The virus seemed like it was trying to just ignore them, until Red sliced its back with his sword, likely leaving several deep gashes behind. In retaliation, the virus charged up an attack as the others retreated carefully, so as not to draw attention to themselves.

"You'll pay for that!" groaned the virus.

The moment the first couple of sparks flew out of its teeth, I ducked and heard the virus wail in pain and confusion. It had just electrocuted itself while standing in a puddle of water. To make matters worse, it was still wet to begin with and had already been slashed by Red.

"Let's finish this!" called Ranger Red.

We all assembled in the diamond shape and held out our weapons in front of us. They disintegrated into four individual clusters of binary that combined in the center of the huddle to form our powerful super weapon, which Silver called "The Virus Reaper" or "VR" for short.

The VR was basically a giant ballista that shot a massive bolt made up of pure data. It was golden, but had the same appearance to it as our Codecs and weapons. The bolt it shot was our weapons in their digital forms. So, whatever it hits basically gets attacked by all of our weapons at once. We had never had to use it before now, but thanks to Silver, we already knew everything we needed to know about it.

"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.

"What'ssss that thing ssssuppossssed to do?" groaned the virus.

"Allow us to demonstrate." said Blue, as if she was in an infomercial.

We changed formations into the shape of the four on a six-sided die and lifted the VR above our heads. To make sure we wouldn't miss, each of us was supposed to hold one of the handles on the bottom of the VR. Red and Green were in the front, while Blue and I were in the back. As we took aim, we could see a sort of laser sight that was showing the precise path that the bolt would follow when we pulled the trigger.

"Four…" said Ranger Green

"Three…" said Ranger Blue.

"Two…" said Ranger Red.

"One…" I said.

"FIRE!" we shouted together.

With an electronic twanging sort of sound, the VR shot the bolt the minute we said the word. There was a loud boom as the bolt broke the sound barrier. The only reason we could even see the shot was because our visors showed the whole process in slow motion. Once it had hit the virus, it kept going and returned to us like a boomerang. The speed on our visors returned to normal as the virus collapsed to the ground and exploded, sending binary flying into all directions until it disappeared entirely. Meanwhile, the VR disintegrated and went back into our Codecs as we powered down, grinning at each other.

Using the VR drains a large percentage of our powers, so, we couldn't teleport back to the control room. Despite feeling a little pathetic, we took a transport shuttle back to Sector 0. It dropped us off in front of Silver's mansion. From there we used the hidden elevator that led straight to the basement.

Silver was waiting for us with three boxes of pizza behind him. We all hurried over to them and helped ourselves.

"I figured you might be hungry when you got back," he said, "Don't worry, once your bodies become accustomed to the Codecs, you'll always be able to teleport."

"This is the meal of champions." said Marcus, with his mouth full.

"Sure, but do you really have to eat it like a pig?" asked Rachel.

"Champions can eat however they want." said Marcus, making a disgusting gulp sound as he swallowed.

"So, Heath," said Silver, "How do you feel after having your epiphany?"

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds painful." I said.

"He means your change of heart." said Riley.

"Um, pretty great actually."

"I had a feeling that's all you really needed." said Silver.

"Yeah, well, if you guys tell anybody else about me crying, I'll kick your asses." I said.

"Your secrets are safe with us, Oz," said Marcus, "Once you get used to having actual friends, it won't be long before you come clean about everything and just be yourself."

"Spare me the melodrama, would you?"

"Meh, he's a work in progress." said Rachel.

That night was one of our best as rangers; hanging out in Silver's basement eating pizza. At least for a little while, we were able to have some well-earned fun. Because we all knew, even though nobody said it out loud, that we had only won one battle and that the war was only just beginning…


	4. Illusions

Sector 5 Radio Station  
Metro City, Canada  
May 9th, 2015  
5:52 PM

"**Marcus Reynolds"**

"You're listening to 111.11 "Five" FM, I'm Question Marc and it's time to open up the phone lines!" I said into the microphone.

Within a few seconds, several lights lit up, indicating that there were incoming calls. Without any order to it, I began to answer them.

"Hi, Question Marc," said the first caller's voice, "I was hoping you could talk about the rumours of a ghost in Sector 8's woods."

What an odd question. It can't be much of a rumour if I hadn't heard of it before now. With a job like mine, it's pretty much impossible not to pick up on things like that.

"Who's this?" I asked.

"Oh, my name is Carly." She said.

"Well, Carly, as you hopefully already know, rumours are usually just that."

"But, this time it's true!" pleaded Carly, "I know this guy whose brother's girlfriend's sister's friend said he saw something in the woods and fell off the cliff while trying to get closer to it."

"Uh-huh," I said, "So, what exactly did he see?"

"He can't remember," said Carly, "He almost broke his neck when he landed."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about these rumours…" I said, "Thanks for calling though, your name will be entered in a draw to win cash and valuable prizes."

I had hoped that hanging up on her would end it, but, much to my dismay, every last call after her was about the same thing. Normally, people call me with actual questions that I can answer, so, tonight was a real failure of a night. My boss wasn't going to be happy… He seems to think I have some sort of control over the quality of the questions that I receive.

By the time I signed off at 8:00 PM, my mind was drowning in useless rumours. Why did this happen so suddenly? It was as if the ghost appeared overnight and that all those people fell victim to it. Most died from the fall, but there were others, like Carly's friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who had survived. Whatever this was, Silver needed to know about it.

I headed out the back door into a deserted parking lot. I hadn't had to morph in a while, so I should have no problem teleporting right into the Control Room. I pushed the two smallest buttons at the same time and held them in. I felt myself being rushed through the air until seconds later I was standing in Silver's basement. Teleporting was boring for us, but looked really cool from an observer's point of view.

"Hello Marcus," he said, "I suppose you want to talk about the Ghost of Sector 8?"

"How did you-"

"We listen to your show, remember?" said Rachel.

"Oh, yeah…"

"Silver thinks it's a virus," said Oz, "But he can't look it up until we get a picture of it."

"Nobody knows what it looks like, though," I said, "Everyone that saw it said something different."

"That's probably because it's some kind of shape shifter," said Silver, "If I'm lucky, I'll be able to identify it without having to know what its true form is."

"Should we ranger up for this mission?" asked Riley.

"No. Not until we know it's a virus," said Silver, "Go as civilians and see if you can get a decent photo of it first."

"Alright, guys, let's go!" said Riley.

We stood in our trademark diamond formation then pressed and held the two smallest buttons until we were reconfigured as data. Up through the ceiling of Silver's basement; out through the seldom used front door of his mansion and into the sunsetting sky.

We arrived in the thick of trees at the very base of the hill. Sector 8's woods are situated on a nature-made mountain trail that leads up to a great make-out spot. It's the steepest hill in Metro City, and is a popular tourist attraction because of the telescopes up there. You can see the whole city from that cliff, and during a full-moon, being up there in a car with a girl results in a 75% chance of getting past 1st base.

"Marcus, you lead the way." said Riley.

"Why me?"

"Well, it was your radio show that led us here, so, I figure it should be you to lead us the rest of the way."

"Riley is afraid of ghosts," said Rachel. "He barricaded himself in his room for a whole weekend after we watched "Paranormal Activity 7891."

"They're still making those movies?" asked Oz, "The franchise lost its luster after the first ten."

"I wasn't scared," said Riley, defensively, "I was… Doing research…"

"Yeah, whatever…" I said, grabbing the flashlight from his hand.

The climb up the mountain was relatively uneventful. Oz kept beat-boxing the theme from "Friday the 13th", but stopped when Rachel shoved him. He got back up, only to start humming the theme from "The X-Files", which made Rachel shove him again.

"Don't you have an off switch?" she snapped.

"Or a pause button?" asked Riley.

"No, but I have a birthmark shaped like Chuck Norris on my ass." He said.

After that, it was silent for the rest of our climb. Once I realized just how quiet it really was, I started to miss Oz's soundtrack. By the time we got to the top of the hill, the sun was gone and the crescent moon was visible in between the thick patches of clouds.

"The callers all said they were standing right about here," I said, "Far enough away from the cliff that they couldn't really see the city, but not so far as to hide the moon."

"Let's split up and look around." said Riley.

"No, no, no…" I said.

"Why not?"

"Because the ghost always appears in the exact same place, hovering in midair just a few feet away from the edge of the cliff."

"Let's all wait at the edge together then." said Rachel.

As we approached the edge, I started to hear things. Strange things, that I could already tell only I could hear. I listened closely and recognized some of the noises. One of the major ones was gunfire. There was also the sound of soaring jets and beeping. Periodically there were even explosions. I didn't realize it at the time, but the sounds hadn't been getting louder because I was concentrating on them, they had been getting louder because they were literally getting louder.

Just then, with a flash of light, the ghost appeared right where it was supposed to.

"Great googly moogly!" gasped Oz, cupping his hand over his mouth upon realizing what he had just said.

"I can't believe it's actually real." muttered Rachel.

At first, I didn't know what I was seeing, but then, almost if my eyes were camera shutters, the ghost came into clearer focus and I could see exactly what it was…

"Dad?" I said, completely mesmerized, "Is that you?"

He nodded at me, closed his eyes and gave me a warm smile.

"Are you okay, Marcus?" said a muffled voice.

"What are you doing?" said another muffled voice.

"Come back, you'll fall!" said the first muffled voice again.

"I don't think he can hear us." said a third muffled voice.

Without realizing it, I had begun to walk forward. I mean, even if I had been aware of my actions, I still would've tried to get closer to my father. It made sense now. None of the callers had known what the ghost looked like, because the ghost was only here for me. Why would it show its true appearance to anybody else?

"You came back to see, me, didn't you Dad?" I asked.

He nodded again, but didn't speak.

"You can't talk to me because you're a ghost, right?" I asked.

He looked a little sad at my words, but then nodded slowly in response. After wiping the tears from his eyes, he held out his hand, indicating that he wanted me to take it.

"It's okay, Dad," I said, "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

I reached out to grab his outstretched hand, but when our hands were close enough to touch, mine went right through his. There was a rush of air, during which time I heard the muffled voices again.

"OH MY GOD, NO!"

"CATCH HIM, OZ!"

"MARCUS!"

And then, there was nothing…

"**Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"**

Roughly two hours after they had left, the rangers returned. Marcus was unconscious and bleeding. I got to work patching him up, but I'm no doctor. Mind you, I have several doctorates, but that's just a coincidence.

"Is he going to be alright, Silver?" asked Riley, frantically.

"He should be fine," I said, "Heath caught him at last minute by the arm; so he thankfully didn't hit the ground nearly as hard as the other victims."

"I'm such an idiot," said Heath, "I can hold to a chick's, err, I can hold on to a football no problem, but yet I couldn't hold on to Marcus' hand."

"Nobody is blaming you, Oz," said Rachel, "Marcus would be dead if it wasn't for you."

"He might be already..."

"What happened up there, Riley?" I asked.

"I don't really know," he said, "We made it to the top of the hill. Marcus said we shouldn't split up because he knew exactly where to look for it. Then the ghost appeared."

"What did it look like?" I asked.

"Nothing, at first," said Rachel, "But, after a couple of minutes, I could've sworn it looked like a Double Decker from Cosmo's with extra Cosmic Sauce."

"Really?" said Oz, "Because I thought it looked like a huge sac of money."

"Yeah," said Riley, "And I saw, um, a solid gold pro-style GameSphere controller."

"Interesting…" I said. "I don't suppose you managed to get a picture?"

"Sure, here."

I looked at the photo and saw nothing. To me, it just looked like a mass of binary. I let that thought roll through my mind for a while until suddenly it dawned on me.

"Rachel," I said, "Were you hungry when you saw that cheeseburger?"

"I still am." she said.

"Heath, were you thinking about how much money you could make if you were able to convince tabloids about the ghost?" I said, "And please, be honest."

"Fine, yeah, I was." he said.

"This is definitely one of Trojan's viruses." I said.

"How can you tell? I don't get it?" asked Heath, scratching his head.

"Look at this picture," I said, "Each of you should see what you saw up on that cliff."

I held it out and showed it to each of them in turn.

"When I looked at this, I saw nothing, because I don't want anything that it could possibly show me."

"So, are you saying that this virus shows you whatever you want at that exact moment?" asked Riley.

"Yes."

"Well then what did Marcus see?" asked Heath.

"His father," said Riley, "Marcus saw his father."

"He's been at peace with that for years, though, hasn't he?" asked Rachel.

"That wouldn't matter," I said, "The virus showed Marcus his father because he's the only one that it knew was vulnerable."

"What about Riley?" asked Rachel, "Both of his parents died, so why did he only see a controller for his game console?"

"Yeah, but I'm afraid of ghosts, so, I wouldn't accept them as being real even if I had seen them. Marcus on the other hand, is a believer." said Riley.

"If this thing really is a virus, then which one is it?" asked Heath, "Marcus' hand went right through it, even though he's a ranger."

"We can only touch viruses when we're morphed, Oz, don't you remember?" asked Rachel.

I hopped backwards into my chair and rolled over to the keyboards. After typing in the right command, I pulled up the database that I downloaded earlier. Since this virus didn't have a physical form that we knew of, all I could do was input what we did know about it.

"Help me out here, you three," I said, "What do we know so far?"

"Um, it's a shape shifter." said Rachel.

"It can tell what people are thinking." said Heath.

"No, wait a minute," said Riley, "I don't think it's a shape shifter. I mean, if it was, then we all should've seen the same thing."

"Alright," I said, "So, we're looking for something that can show people what they're thinking about without actually transforming into it."

I typed in the search parameters and hit the enter key, waiting patiently.

"Um, guys?" said Heath, "Marcus is gone."

"What!?" we all said in unified confusion.

"He must've snuck away when we weren't looking," said Rachel, "Silver, call us when you figure out what this thing is; we're going to go find Marcus."

"He could be anywhere though," asked Heath, "How are we supposed to find him at night when he's already got a head start on us?"

"Because he won't be hiding, Oz," said Riley, "He'll be back at the Sector 8 cliff."

"**Marcus Reynolds"**

What kind of bullshit were the others going on about? I thought as I made my way back up the hill. That was no virus, it was my father. All I had to do was convince him to come back to headquarters with me and they would see for themselves. Why else would every one that saw him just so happen to all call the same radio station that I just so happened to be working at that night? As for Riley seeing a golden game controller, give me a break, he saw himself proposing to Rachel or something. Don't ask me why, but I had kind of been thinking that Rachel had been a vegetarian, so, I guess my Dad showed them whatever he assumed they'd want. Sure, there were a few flaws in my theory, but I didn't care. My father had come back for me and nothing was going to stop me from seeing him. Those noises I had been hearing were all the sounds he must've heard before he died.

My father was an air force pilot in an elite faction known as the Beret Squadron. He was shot down by a seeker missile on a return flight from Iraq; less than a few miles and he would've been back in friendly skies… Dad used to give me berets patterned with designs from whatever region he bought it from. I got a red, white a blue beret with an eagle design from America. A white beret with red polka dots from Japan and so on and so forth. But, after he died, I burned them all. I couldn't bear to look at them anymore. That's when I switched to golfer hats.

When I saw my father, he even had wounds that were appropriate of how he died. There was no way some stupid virus could be so precise or accurate with details like that.

I reached the cliff top and waited. Any second now, he'd show up. So what if I was in pain? I'm a Power Ranger, the next time I morphed, I'd be fit as a fiddle.

"Come on, Dad…" I said, "It's safe for you to come out now. The others aren't with me, I promise."

I kept waiting until it started to get really cold. To stop myself from shivering, I stood up, crossed my arms and started rubbing them against my chest. The friction generated a small amount of heat, which was more than enough for me.

At long last, my father appeared again. He looked exactly the same as the last time.

"I sorry, son… I can't talk unless you're the only one that will hear me."

"You don't need to explain yourself, Dad, I understand."

"I thought you might, you've always been good at stuff like that."

"Why did you come back? Is there something you needed to tell me?"

"I want you to join me, Marcus," he said, "Come spend the afterlife with me."

What an odd thing to say. If I was about to die from cancer or something, that would make sense, but to essentially ask me to kill myself just to spend time with him was weird.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I'm giving you a chance to attain eternal peace and freedom." He said.

"Freedom what, exactly?"

"I know you're a Power Ranger, Marcus. I've been watching over you."

"I thought you'd be proud of me…" I said, "I never thought you'd want me to die like a coward rather than embrace the incredible gift I've been given and fight with my friends."

"You misunderstand me, son. I want you to be a ranger, but, I'm afraid that you'll get hurt. But, if you die now, then we can spare everyone the pain of losing you."

"How will that make any difference?" I said, "Either way, I die. Either way, my friends and family will grieve."

"Now, son, there's no need to get upset. I only want what's best for you."

"You liar!" I sobbed, "If you really cared about me you would've stayed with us. I told you over and over again not to go to Iraq, but you didn't listen. You left us and then you died! You died and left us all alone!"

"Marcus… I'm your father and you should trust my judgment!"

"You are NOT my father!" I shouted.

With a scream, the image of my father shattered like glass.

"Attack it now, Marcus!" called Ranger Red from further down the hill, "Destroying the virus' illusion weakens it!"

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I screamed.

I could see a swirling tornado of 0s and 1s encircle me. As it did so, it became narrower and faster until it collided with me in a small explosion. I had my green ranger suit on now and felt myself leap high into the air. Now with my helmet on, the dimension faded from around me as my feet crashed down on the ground.

"Download weapon!" I said, loudly.

My spear materialized in my hands, but I couldn't see where the virus was hiding. This whole time it had been projecting these images, but yet, no one had ever seen it. Just then, a targeting cursor appeared on my visor and pointed to the tallest tree in the forest. The damn thing must've been at least 50' in height. Now wonder nobody ever saw the virus.

"Stand back!" I called to the others.

I gave a mighty heave and threw my spear as hard as I could. It rocketed up through the tallest branches until the virus shrieked in pain.

"Heads up!"

I had a satisfied smirk on my face as I watched it fall down to the ground. The virus landed in front of Red, Blue and Yellow and trembled before it exploded, sending binary everywhere.

"Nice shot, Green!" they cheered.

It had been hard enough to get over my father's death the first time. But now that I had let myself think he came back, I would have to go through the entire process again.

"Let's head back, everyone." said Ranger Red, beckoning me to join their formation.

We teleported back to the Control Room, where we all knew it was safe to de-morph.

"Power down." we all said.

"Marcus…" said Silver, waving his finger scoldingly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I said.

"Do you?"

"Yes, Silver, I know I shouldn't have run off like that, but… It was my father."

"As team leader, I hereby forgive you, Marcus." said Riley.

"I suppose I can second that. As long as running off doesn't become a routine for you." said Silver.

"It won't… I promise." I said.

"Hey," said Rachel, "Are you going to be okay?"

Of course I would be. The first time I lost my father, I hadn't even met Riley or Rachel yet. But now that it's happened again, I'll have the support of them, as well as Oz and Silver. I can't believe that less than a few minutes ago I had been dreading how hard it would be to go through the grieving period again.

"So, how did you guys figure out which virus it was?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Once we realized that the virus itself didn't shape shift, I was able to find #6P7R2S3C or Projector Screen Virus in my database quite easily," said Silver, "That's when I broadcasted my findings to all the rangers, but you must have ignored the message notification."

"Well, duh. I thought I was talking to my father."

"Good point." said Silver, not realizing that he just changed the subject back to what I didn't want it to be.

"Hey, Riley," I said, smirking as I came up with the perfect way to really change the subject, "Are you ever going to tell Rachel the truth about what illusion you saw?"

The look on his face was priceless. As long as I kept myself entertained, getting over this whole incident shouldn't be too bad at all. If anything, I would say I'm even stronger now than I was before. Without knowing it, Trojan had helped me, whether he intended to or not.


	5. Desperate Times

Sector 13, Bishop Residence  
Metro City, Canada  
May 12th, 2015  
12:00 PM

"**Riley Bishop"**

"Come on, Sis! You've been in there for half an hour!" I said, pounding on the bathroom door.

Living with my older sister is okay. She's really nice and we get along great. It's always been that way. After our parents died, she just instinctively stepped into their shoes and has been taking care of me ever since. She's so good at it that a lot of the time, I forget she's actually my sister. She always tells me she did most of the work of raising me when I first born anyway, but I don't know if I really believe that. Sure, it's possible, considering that she was 10 when I was born, but, I think she's just bluffing to prove a point. By the way, if I for some reason, wanted to piss her off, all I have to do is call her "Mom" or "Amanda". She's not my mother, she's my guardian. When I was 10, I started calling her that, because I didn't really understand that "Mom" is the person that gave birth to you, not the person that takes care of you.

"Leave me alone, Riley." she said.

"You told me to keep nagging you so that we wouldn't be late." I said.

"We're not going to be late," said Amanda, "Besides, there's no way I'm going to the bank with bedhead."

"It's already noon!"

"No it isn't. I set all the clocks to be one hour fast last night."

"Why?"

"Okay, I'm lying, you know I hate it when I have to defend myself even though I'm wrong and you're right." she said.

"Just come out, I'm sure you look fiii-aaiigghh!" I said.

She had opened the door and glared at me. Her hair was fine, but why should that mean I'm not allowed to have any fun?

My sister was the splitting image of our mother. She had brown hair, unlike me, but the same eyes.

"My hair is fine, isn't it?" she said.

"Of course it is." I said.

"You're dead meat."

She tackled me to ground and began to tickle me furiously. Even after she had stopped, I stayed down on the ground thrashing as I waited for the effects to wear off. I'm like a wind-up car toy or something, because all it takes to get me going is a few well-aimed "attacks" to my ribs, feet or under my armpits. The only people that can actually tickle me are my sister and Rachel. I suppose my mom used to be able to do it as well, because somebody must have taught Amanda.

"Get over yourself, we don't want to be late." she said.

I'll give her some credit. In the time it took for me to calm down, she had changed into her business clothes, (which kind of made her look like a lawyer) brushed her teeth, put on make-up and even perfume. How long had I been laughing hysterically? Amanda usually wore clothes that most people her age would say make her look younger. Tattered jeans and simple t-shirts are just her style. She's both an artist and a photographer, and I figure that the whole attire started when she realized how hard it was to paint in grown up clothes. Plus, she probably kept getting them dirty.

"You mean, later than we already are?"

"Shut-up," said Amanda, "Just get in the car."

One thing I've never understood about my sister is why she's so stubborn. Our bank is in Sector 2. Out of all the sectors in Metro City, sectors 1 through 5 are well known as being the worst ones. The best ones would have to be 0 and 13. Sector 13 is nice, because the city didn't want it to live up to its name and 0 is nice, because it has the best police to criminal ratio. Sector 0 has to be like that though, because it's where City Hall is, among other things. The first five sectors are so bad because they're on the border of other provinces, which allows criminals to essentially come and go relatively freely. This results in the majority of customers and clients that enter businesses in these sectors to look like they would pull out a shotgun at any minute. So, why she insists on driving halfway across the city to go to the Sector 2 bank when the Sector 13 bank is just as nice and overall much safer is anyone's guess.

"Why don't we move our accounts over to Sector 13's bank?" I asked.

"Riley, there's nothing wrong with Sector 2, those are just rumours and coincidences."

"Okay, Sis, if you say so…"

With all due respect to my sister, this is really not how I'd care to spend an in-service day. I could be studying, kicking ass online on my GameSphere or, maybe, I don't know, finally plucking up the courage to ask Rachel out? Oh yeah, saving the city from evil viruses. And there's another point. If a virus shows up, I'll have a lot of explaining to do. Amanda is pretty cool, but even she might have a hard time believing that I'm the Red Power Ranger.

"Why are you dressed so nice anyway?" I asked.

"Am I not allowed to do that?"

"No, of course not, it just seems like you only do it for very specific reasons," I said, "Like job interviews, big photo shoots or art showcase nights."

"Remember last time we to the bank and that teller treated us like garbage?" she said, "So, I figured he might be nicer to us if I dressed up a bit more."

"I think that only works with tank tops and short shorts."

"Well, I guess we'll find out what he likes soon enough, won't we?"

Amanda is so honest with me for the most part. I might lie to her, but most of them she sees right through. That's why I didn't have to try and guess why she has wearing such nice clothes. All I have to do is ask, and she usually tells me, unless it's something I shouldn't know.

By the time we got to the bank, my newly washed clothes had a big mustard stain on it from the burger we picked up at Cosmo's.

"Honestly, Riley, do I have to carry a bib around with me for you?" she asked, obviously frustrated.

At her words I slipped my arms back into the sleeves, took the shirt off and then put it back on inside out. Since it was a plain t-shirt, you couldn't really tell the difference. It helped that my jacket covered the seams of it, too.

"It's a good thing we're going to Sector 2," I said, "I would look much more out of place if we were going to the bank in Sector 13."

You'd think that with this city being divided into twenty-one different sectors that it would take a long time to get from one to another, right? Well, the city already thought of that. Above the city is something called the Sectional Overpass. It's essentially like an interstate or a highway, only it leads to each sector. So, to get from our house in Sector 13, we drive up to the Sectional Overpass and keep going until we see the Sector 2 exit. Using the overpass, it takes roughly ten minutes multiplied by the amount of exits you'd pass along the way. If it sounds confusing, it is, until you get used to it.

We arrived at the bank within about an hour. That's not so bad, except for the fact that our appointment was an hour ago.

"I can't believe we're late again!" snapped Amanda, stumbling in her high heels as we hurried up the front steps of the Sector 2 bank.

"Only one of us was running late." I said.

"Yes, I know. I'm not angry at you, I'm angry at myself."

See what I mean? She's cool. The way Rachel and Marcus talk it sounds like they get blamed for a lot of things that aren't always necessarily their faults. I guess that by being a parent, you automatically get to be right even you're actually wrong. It makes no sense, even when you're a kid, but that's just the way it works. Luckily for me, my sister isn't my parent, so she can admit when she's wrong.

"Want me to fetch your normal shoes from the car? You and I both know you can't walk in heels."

"That would defeat the whole point of dressing up nice," she said, "I've got everything under control."

She tripped two or three more times while we dashed over to the only open teller counter.

"Hi." said the Teller, whose nametag read "Lawrence".

Unbelievable; it was the same guy as last time. It's almost as if Amanda memorized the days he works just so she could see him again and make him regret being an ass to her last time because of how she was dressed. As I looked around, I saw just how not busy the bank was today. There were less than fifty people.

The purpose of Metro City was to create a large, self-contained metropolitan city. That's why it's called Metro City. Not the most creative name, but it definitely makes sense. Being a self-contained city meant that everything in it needed to be exclusive to the city. So, rather than have multiple chains of banks, there are just twenty banks from the same chain. One for each sector, excluding Sector 0, because it's not a residential area, save for all the mansions on the hills, like Silver's. All the businesses follow the same pattern as well. There are no Wal-Marts or Safeways. No McDonalds or Burger Kings. Even things like insurance companies and cable/internet/phone/cellphone companies aren't here. If you live in Metro City, you get both of those from Metro Insurance and Metro Communications respectively. Personally, I like it because it eliminates choices. Besides, everything we do have here is really great.

So, getting back to what I said earlier, less than fifty people in a bank was nothing, considering that most people went to the bank in their home sector, unlike my sister.

"Hi, we had an appointment for noon." said Amanda.

"Well then why weren't you here at noon?" asked Lawrence, arrogantly.

"Because she takes half an hour to fix each side of her-" I said as Amanda stomped on my foot to shut me up.

"I suppose I could let it slide today," said Lawrence, "But only because it's not very busy."

"Thank you. I'd really appreciate it." said Amanda.

"No problem, ma'am," said Lawrence, "Head on over to the waiting room and someone will come get you when they're ready for you."

"Alright." said Amanda.

While this was going on, a disguised man had walked in. He was stomping with each step to make sure he would be seen. I could tell it was a man because he was too tall to be a woman. He was wearing a heavy jacket with a collar that obscured the lower half of his face which was already covered with a bandana. He also had a black toque and very dark sunglasses on to further hide his identity.

The man walked up to the counter, aggressively shoved Amanda out of his way, pulled out an intricate looking gun and pointed it at Lawrence's head.

"Here's how this is going to work," growled the Man to alter his voice, "Everyone in this building is now my hostage. If anybody calls the police, tries to escape, or does anything else that I don't like, I will open fire and detonate the explosive charges that I placed around the building."

"Sir, if you're here for money, I'd be happy to lead you to the vaults." whimpered Lawrence.

"I don't need your money," chuckled the Man, "I'm not some petty bank robber."

"Then what are you?" asked Lawrence.

"A messenger." said the Man.

"Well, then what's your message?" asked Lawrence.

Without warning, he shot the teller right in the head. His body drooped over onto his desk.

"It's not that kind of message." said the Man.

"We're the message, aren't we?" asked Amanda.

"Only once you're dead," said the Man, "If you're alive, you're still considered a hostage."

"If we can't call the police, then who is this message for?" asked the blonde teller four counters to left of us.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," said the Man, "Once I'm out of hostages, then I'll call the police myself."

"Whoever sent you here is a sick son of a bitch!" snapped one of the hostages.

"That thought crossed my mind, yeah." said the Man.

I knew what was coming, so I looked away, flinching as I heard the hostage get shot. I felt so useless, cowering there with Amanda. I could morph, but then everyone would see. Besides, I'm not allowed to fight criminals. That's the police's job.

"Does anyone else have an opinion they'd like to voice?" asked the Man.

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Nobody did anything. I kept thinking of them as cowards, but then I remembered that less than a month ago, I would've done exactly the same as them.

"I didn't think so…" said the Man.

Minutes passed, and then hours. If he didn't want anything from the bank, then why did take hostages in the first place? He already told us he planned to kill us, so, what was he waiting for. During this time, four more hostages were killed. One for trying to sneak away, one for having the balls to ask the man what his name was and then a mother and her young daughter were killed when they attempted to go the bathroom. That bastard knew damn well where they were going, but shot them anyway. The girl couldn't have been more than 6.

After shooting the hostage that asked for his name, he answered "Vince". The way he was going about this made absolutely no sense, which bothered me to no end. Why would you tell people not to do anything or risk getting shot, if you intended to kill them all? It defeats the whole purpose.

But, what if he was waiting for something? Maybe his message wasn't just for the police, maybe it was for the Power Rangers too? He must be waiting for them to show up, but because he's not a virus, there's no reason for them to spring into action. It seems to me like he had created a vicious circle without realizing it.

That's when I made up mind. I had to morph. There was no other choice. If I didn't, this would go on forever. The only problem was that if I stood up, he'd shoot me and I couldn't morph while crouched on the ground because it wouldn't work as a distraction that way.

"I think I know what he's waiting for, Sis." I said.

"What?"

"I also think… That I have a plan." I said, before she could finish her question.

"Riley, listen to me," said Amanda, "That guy is insane and dangerous. You might think you know him, but you don't, so stay here."

"I can't just sit here!"

"Yes you can, I'll even help you!" snapped Amanda, trying to anchor me with her arms.

"Please let me go! You don't understand!" I shouted.

"No, you don't understand!" she sobbed, "I'm the guardian! I'm supposed to be taking care of you! If you get hurt, it'll be my fault and they can take you away from me!"

"Calm down, okay? That's not going to happen," I said, "Like I said, I have a plan and I need you to help me pull it off."

Amanda took out a big sniff and wiped her eyes on her clothes.

"Alright…" she said, "Do what you think is best."

"I need your heels." I said.

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Trust me."

She reached down and pulled them off her feet. Once they gone, she noticed how swollen her feet had become and began to massage them absent-mindedly.

"Remember when we used to play sock-golf?"

"Who are you kidding, we still play that." she chuckled.

"Yeah, whatever," I said, "Well, this is exactly like sock-golf, only you're throwing your shoes instead of a sock."

"I'm also not aiming at makeshift holes, like the sink."

"Right, you're aiming right over there," I said, using my fingers to demonstrate the trajectory, "Take your time, because you can only miss once."

My plan was pretty cheesy and clichéd, but I seriously doubt that anyone would notice or care if it ends up working. Amanda was going to try and hit the elaborate glass chandelier with her shoes and make it fall near Vince, which would hopefully give me enough time to stand up and morph without getting shot.

While in ranger form, normal bullets from normal guns wouldn't affect me, so I could act as a human shield to escort the hostages out. Something tells me Vince was bluffing about the explosives though. If he was telling the truth, why would he have shot that hostage who tried to escape? He could've just detonated the bombs to kill him as well more people outside.

Anyways, it was time to initiate the plan. Normally, I never worry about whether or not they'll work, because they usually do. This time, however, if my plan didn't work, Vince would kill us all and we'd become the message. But, it's like that old saying; desperate times call for desperate measures. So, I crossed my fingers and nodded to Amanda. Then, wordlessly she and I looked at the remaining hostages and mouthed: "We have a plan. Do exactly as we say and it should work." Ironically, my sister only knew about 75% of the plan, but telling her would waste time. Besides, it would be much more effective to show her.

Amanda took aim when Vince looked away. With a silent, yet mighty whip of her arm, she hurled the shoe towards the chandelier. The heel did some real damage, but didn't quite break it. Before the first shoe had even begun to fall, Amanda threw the second shoe so that when they landed, the sound would be drowned out by the crashing of the chandelier. With a smirk of satisfaction, she watched in amazement as it fell.

I seized my chance and jumped to my feet. The chandelier hadn't even hit the floor yet as I rolled up my sleeve to reveal my Digitizer. Vince had just now noticed that something was falling from the roof and therefore couldn't see me. It was now or never.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I shouted.

With a deafening sound, the chandelier had smashed to the ground, sending several small pieces of glass flying. Some of them appeared to have hit Vince, because he was writhing in pain, clutching his face.

"Riley!?" gasped Amanda, "You're the-"

"Get these people out of here, now!" I yelled frantically.

Much to my relief, she gave me a look that said she understood and would expect me to explain everything later. I gave my sister the thumbs us as she began to shepherd all the hostages together and escort them towards the door.

Vince was still in pain. I approached him apprehensively and tapped his shoulder. He turned around quickly, which made me jump a little in surprise. Now his sunglasses were off and I could see his face. Except, he didn't have one; he was a Replicator.

"That doesn't make any sense…" I said.

Silver should've picked up a signal from it if it was really a Replicator.

"No, I'm a virus in two disguises," it said, "The first disguise hides my true identity and the second makes me look like a human."

"It must also block your signal." I said.

"Right you are," said the virus, "Master Trojan thought it would be easier to take down the rangers individually, so he sent me here."

With a flourish, the virus took off the remaining pieces of its disguises and thrust its arms in the air. Then a small version of the tornado that we see when we morph swallowed the virus and spat it back out in its true form. The tornado looked like crazy binary. I suppose that's what Trojan's corrupted code looks like. Silver must not have known that viruses could do this, otherwise he definitely would've told us. After seeing Vince's true form, I made an educated guess that it was the Firearm Virus.

"Man, you're ugly no matter what you look like!" I taunted.

"Red, don't you know it's rude to call people names?" said Ranger Green from somewhere behind me.

"That ain't a person," said Ranger Yellow, "It's the newest victim of my hammer."

"Where did you all come from?" I asked.

"Silver sent us after beating himself up for a while," said Ranger Blue, "He's peeved that it took him so long to realize you were in trouble."

"Rangers, the Firearm Virus is still hurt. You should be able to use the VR to destroy it without much difficulty." came Silver's voice from the speakers in our helmets.

"You heard the man, let's do it!" I called.

Even if our weapons aren't out, we can still summon the VR. The Codecs are smart enough to send the binary code versions or our weapons directly into the center of our formation, which then materializes into the mighty ballista known as the Virus Reaper.

"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.

Once each of us had a steady grip on one of the VR's feet/handles, it was time to charge it up. This process takes roughly five seconds, so to help us keep track of that timer as well as to add dramatic effect, Silver tells us to count down out loud.

"Four…" said Ranger Green

"Three…" said Ranger Blue.

"Two…" said Ranger Yellow.

"One…" I said.

"FIRE!" we shouted together.

With an electronic twanging sort of sound, the VR shot the bolt. There was a loud boom as the bolt broke the sound barrier. Without our visors, we wouldn't be able to see the shot at all. Once the bolt had hit the virus, it kept going and returned to us like a boomerang. The more we used the VR, the more confident we became in our abilities to aim it. That's for the best, because we only get one shot each time we summon it.

Rather than fall over and explode, the Firearm Virus just stayed there, completely frozen. We waited and waited and waited, but it didn't look like anything was going to happen.

"**Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"**

"Those idiotic technicolour twerps!" I spat, "Another perfectly good virus destroyed."

"Your Majesty, I think they're called Power Rangers." said Phisher, the dim-witted virus that is supposed to be my assistant.

"Thank you, Phisher, it's always aggravating to have someone state the obvious!" I snapped.

"Sorry," said Phisher, "I thought you didn't know their names."

Phisher was only really useful as a punching bag and waiter. At least General Berg and Dr. Molex were much more reliable. I created Phisher first, by mistake and then had better luck the second and third times. Dr. Molex's job is to archive and maintain all the codes I've corrupted and use them to make monstrous viruses. General Berg is the battle commander who controls the Replicator armies remotely.

"My Liege, perhaps now would be a good time to test out the patch machine?" asked Dr. Molex.

"I agree," I said, "Enter the algorithm sequences in the command line interface and we'll see if the virus is compatible with it."

"As you wish, Sire." said Dr. Molex.

In my experience, I learned that overkill is never a good thing. In fact, back when I was human, I would've made a clean escape after my last kill, if it weren't for the fact that I got too carried away. I completely massacred her and I didn't have to. Had I been able to control myself, the CDI would never have caught me and I'd still in the human world.

So, that's why I've been careful not to overdo it with the rangers. I could've started making the viruses bigger weeks ago, but instead I decided to wait. The Firearm Virus shouldn't have been so easy to take down. I must have miscalculated when I made the corrupt code for it or something because it was the strongest virus yet, but somehow it was taken down by nothing more than a chandelier. But, like that old saying, desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Patch installation initiated!" cackled Dr. Molex, pulling a lever to power up the machine.

"Let's see what you make of this, rangers!" I jeered at them, even though they couldn't hear me.

"**Riley Bishop"**

It was if someone had hit the pause button on the virus. It hadn't moved since the VR's bolt pierced clean through it.

"What the hell is going on?" snapped Yellow, "I hate waiting! If you're gonna explode just do it already!"

Then, to keep the metaphor running, someone seemed to push the rewind button on the virus. It travelled back until the moment before our bolt hit it and then paused again momentarily. The virus unfroze when, get this, a PERCENTAGE BAR appeared next to it's head.

"Oh no…" whimpered Blue.

"It looks like we made Trojan cranky." said Green.

"Silver, I think its Zord time." I said into my Digitizer.

"Ranger Red, they aren't combat ready yet-"

"I don't care! We need them now! Trojan is making the Firearm Virus bigger."

"Alright… I've activated them," he said, "Summon them as if they were your weapons."

The percentage bar was at about 60% now. Ready or not, we needed the Data Zords ASAP.

"Download Data Zord!" called Green, "Emerald Gorilla!"

Silver told us that our Zords would only be able to appear one at a time. So, we had to be very specific when summoning them, unlike our weapons.

To the right of Ranger Green, a swirling tornado of binary had kicked up. It looked like the thin air over there was morphing. Shortly thereafter, a massive green robot shaped like a gorilla had appeared and was now waiting for instructions. One by one, the others began to call their Zords too.

"Download Data Zord!" called Yellow, "Topaz Rhino!"

"Download Data Zord!" called Blue, "Sapphire Marlin!"

"Download Data Zord!" I called, "Ruby Fox!"

Once they had all materialized, we hopped into their cockpits and grabbed the wheels. Silver really was a genius. I can barely drive a car, let alone a massive fox-shaped robot.

"Everyone ready?" I asked, making sure to speak into the microphone in my cockpit.

"Roger!" said Blue.

"Aye-Aye!" said Yellow.

"All systems go!" said Green.

"Alright then, I guess its Megazord time!"

I think that because our powers came from the same source, we had developed a sort of link with each other. I knew that in order for this to work, the four of us needed to push the transform buttons at precisely the same time, but, somehow I could almost instinctively tell when to react. My theory is that we share a link of sorts, but I have no way to verify that yet.

We had never used the Zords before now, and it got weird after pushing the buttons. It was almost like when we morphed. Even though my body hadn't actually left the cockpit of my Zord, I could see what was happening from an angle above the action.

The Rhino Zord became the legs. Its outer body folded out like a scissor lift, revealing a very obvious shape that could only be legs. They were powerful looking and had the head of the Zord for one its feet, horns and all. I would assume that was for kicking.

The Gorilla Zord became the torso. The robot's muscular arms sort of retracted inside the gorilla's body, like the shell of a tortoise. Its legs flew off and reformed into some sort of belt.

Next came the Marlin Zord, which became the Megazord's right arm. It didn't really change much, but when it was securely attached, I noticed that the marlin's mouth would serve as a menacing sword. The right arm had no real hands or fingers because of this.

Lastly, my Fox Zord became the left arm. Its bushy tail came off like a sheath comes off a sword. Where the tail used to be was a thin, but flexible looking bicep. The left arm's hand appeared when the head of the fox came off.

At this point, I thought that the Megazord was now fully formed. Its head was kind of scrawny, but it would still work fine. Just then, the excess parts from my fox joined together and changed into a helmet which came to rest on top of the puny head. Instantly, it looked that much better.

It didn't feel like I moved from where I was floating back into the cockpit. Instead, it felt like I just woke up already inside it, as if everything I had just seen was a dream. The others were inside the head with me now; each of them had a steering mechanism of some kind which controlled their individual part of the Megazord.

"Cyberspace Megazord! Online!" we exclaimed in excited unison.

"This is cool!" said Green, looking around like a kid in a carnival for the first time.

"I can't wait to try out it's stereo system," said Yellow, "There must be a bitchin' subwoofer."

"Rangers, will you please focus?" barked Silver over the intercom.

The Firearm Virus rapidly grew to match us in size. The Sector 2 bank was in ruins and I intended to do the same to the virus.

"Whoa! What a rush!" it said, "Seems like we both got hardware upgrades."

The virus' hands were both guns in its true form. I never got a chance to look at what Vince had really been because I was too busy shooting a digital bolt at him. It raised them at us and fired. We took a direct hit and stumbled backwards, nearly destroying the Overpass.

"I thought his arms were machine guns!?" yelped Ranger Green.

"He must be able to cycle between different modes," I said, "Ranger Blue, ready our sword!"

"You foolish tin can! Never bring a knife to a gunfight!" said the Virus.

"Technically it's a marlin." retorted Blue.

"Either way, it's a fish out of water." said Green.

We all leered at him.

"Sorry…" he mumbled.

Ranger Blue held out our sword arm horizontally and then Green began to rotate the Megazord's torso at the waist. Combined, these two actions created a walking cyclone of death.

"Get back! I'm warning you!" moaned the Virus, anxiously.

Yellow made us enter a sprint; with the Megazord's torso still spinning. Panicking, the Virus switched to machine gun mode and fired a storm of bullets at us, which just ended up being reflected away by our cyclone.

"Oh boy…" grunted the Virus.

Our sword ravaged him when it made contact, but, just to be sure, we didn't stop the spinning or stop walking until we were sure the Virus was gone. And, this time he was, because seconds later, it separated into all kinds of smaller pieces and disintegrated.

Now I could relax. Now I was free to go find Amanda. I didn't need to say much to the others, because they knew what I meant when I said my sister's name. I leapt out of the Megazord and ran as fast I could. I don't know where Amanda would've gone, but I knew she had escaped the bank. If she hadn't, she'd be dead now.

"Amanda!" I called, frantically as I weaved in and out of the streets.

"Riley!?" she panted from somewhere I couldn't see.

"Where are you?"

Then I saw it. Just a few yards away from me was an overturned bus. My sister was waving at me from on top of it. I dashed towards it, but then tripped on some debris and fell forward.

"Is that really you?" she asked, limping over to me.

"I guess there's no point trying to deny anymore, huh?"

"This is unbelievable," she said, kneeling down, "How did this happen?"

"It's a long story." I said.

"Then I want you to bore with all the details when we get home."

"Silver won't be happy when he figures out that you know about me."

"Don't worry," said Amanda, "I can keep a secret."

As I teleported us back to our house, I couldn't stop worrying. Sure, I might have saved countless people in that bank, my mind was racing. Did I do the right thing? Was it my fault that those hostages were killed because I acted too slowly? How will having my sister know about me change Trojan's tactics? Did I put her in even more danger by morphing in front of her? Will all the other people that saw me morph keep my secret too? Are they in just as much danger as Amanda now?

I was so confused that I ended teleporting us to the Sector 20 library. I remember de-morphing without intending to and I remember being carried into a vehicle of some sort. After that, there's a blank in my memory. I guess all I can hope for now is that this will all end up being a dream, like how watching the Megazord transform seemed to have a been a dream.

What? It could happen, right?

Right?


	6. Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Sector 16, Old Town  
Metro City, Canada  
May 15th, 2015  
2:00 AM

"**Rachel Parker"**

I used to love being a ranger. Now I hate it. I was forced to wake up an hour ago to track down a virus that may or may not even be there. To be fair, I kind of hate everything that interferes with my sleep. It's a simple rule. Don't wake me up before my alarm does and we'll get along fine.

"Come on, Rach!" called Riley, "You snooze, you lose!"

No you don't. In fact, if you don't snooze, you lose. By not sleeping, I'm losing precious hours of rest. That's losing.

"Give me a break!" I whined, "I wish I was still snoozing."

"The sooner we find this virus, the sooner you can go back to bed." said Marcus.

It didn't help that I had no idea where we were. Sector 16 was for the most part our agricultural district. Old Town has been in Canada for years and years. Once Metro City was built around it, they decided to simply incorporate Old Town into Sector 16 because it suited its overall purpose. Until now, I had never been here before. I really hoped Riley and the others knew where they were going, because I sure as hell didn't. I've just been following them, which is why I'm so cranky. They don't need me this time around, but yet I can't just go back to sleep.

"Do any of you even know where you're going?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Oz, "That way."

I rolled my eyes at him. He's really starting to grow on me. I can sort of see what Riley saw in him by now. Although, he's not sharpest knife in the drawer, he's still a great asset to the team.

"The virus must be right around this corner," said Riley, "My Digitizer is going crazy."

Am I still sleeping or something? Why did I not notice that my Digitizer had been beeping erratically too?

"Oz, take Rachel through that alley and cut him off on the right," said Riley, "Marcus and I will cut him off on the left."

"I'll race you," said Oz, pulling me by my hand, "Come on, Sleeping Beauty, it's party time!"

He better not have said that because he's lusting for me. If he said it because I was tired, that's fine, but I have no interest in dating a jock. Oz might be growing on me, but only as a teammate and friend. Let me put it this way; I'd sooner go out with Trojan before I went out with Marcus or Oz.

After being led through the alley, we met up with the virus. Riley's plan worked, because it couldn't see us. We waited apprehensively for the others to arrive, praying that it wouldn't notice us and turn around.

Not a moment too soon, Riley and Marcus leapt out from their corner. Peering around the virus, they checked to make sure we were there. Once we made eye contact, Riley took charge.

"Ready!?" he called.

"Ready!" we replied.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" screamed the four of us together.

Now fully morphed, we waited for the virus to attack, but it didn't. It just stood there.

"It looks like its sleeping." I said.

"Blue, it's a virus," said Green, "I don't think they sleep."

"Okay, then why isn't moving?"

"Maybe its batteries are dead?"

"Or maybe, I was waiting to do this!" snarled the virus, snapping its fingers.

There was a blinding flash of light that lingered in the sky.

"Sorry! I must've left my flash on!" it cackled.

We all took out our weapons and raised them. This one was asking for it. Thank goodness we couldn't feel tired when morphed.

I cartwheeled forwards, and tried to go toe-to-toe with the virus. Ranger Yellow came from behind and smashed the virus in the back with his hammer. It was a direct hit, but in retaliation the virus backhanded me across the chest, either that or it was feeling me up. I went flying but stopped when Ranger Green caught me.

"Don't even think about making a baseball joke," I said, "I've heard them all before anyway."

I nudged Green in the back, essentially tapping myself out, like in tag-team wrestling. He ran forwards and called out to Yellow for a boost. I watched as Ranger Yellow crouched down with his back toward Green. The minute Green's foot touched Yellow's back, he shot up into a standing position, giving Ranger Green some decent altitude.

"I believe I can fly…" he began.

He raised his spear, poised to drive it into the virus, but in another flash, he crashed to the ground.

"Who is this guy, Flash Gordon?" said Riley.

"Maybe," I said, "But we won't stand a chance until we stop him from blinding us."

"I'd say we use the VR, but then we wouldn't have any power to summon the Zords if the virus grows."

"Regroup guys! Fall in!" called Red.

"There's some sort of cool down period for its flash thingy," said Green, "We need to wait until it tries to blind us again before we attack."

"If we do that, we'll get hit by the light and might miss our chance to attack." said Ranger Yellow.

"Unless one of us takes the full blast," said Red, "That would leave the other three unaffected."

"Then it should be easy for us to get him." said Green.

"I'll do it," I said, "I'll take the full blast. I don't care if you're the leader Red, I want to take one for the team. Besides, your weapons are stronger than mine, so you'll stand a chance at crippling its flash."

"She has a point." said Ranger Green.

"Silver," said Red, "Any info on where to strike if we want to damage it's flash?"

"I'm still working on it," he said, "Hold it off for a little bit longer and I should have something."

"We can't even land any attacks because it keeps hitting us with the light." I said.

"You know, the way you're all standing right now would make a great picture." taunted the virus.

"Finally!" said Silver, "It's virus #1C6A0M2E, or in other words, the Camera Virus."

"So, if we break that thing on its forehead, it should stop it from flashing us," said Ranger Red, "Blue, go for it, we'll hit it hard once it has to recharge."

"Alright, I've always thought of myself as the photogenic type." I said.

I can't believe Red didn't realize that I was doing this so he wouldn't have to. If you ask me, he needs to take "Interpreting Signals from the Opposite Sex 101" or something, because at this point, I could probably strip naked in front of him and he still wouldn't pick up on what I was trying to tell him. Men are such idiots sometimes…

I put my weapons away and started walking towards the Camera Virus slowly. It needed to be caught off guard for this to work properly, I think. So, as I got closer to it, I put my hands up to show I wasn't planning on attacking it.

"Hey there, sweetie," said the virus, "I don't suppose you've come up here because you want to model for me?"

"Um… Sure?" I said, doing my best ditzy girl impression.

"Well then smile for me!" said the virus, "Any chance you could take your mask off?"

"No."

"Give me a nice pose, then," said the virus, "Here it comes!"

There was a subtle click, but no flash. Crap! He called my bluff!

"That's not what he was supposed to do…" sighed Red.

"So long, cyber turds!" squealed the Camera Virus.

Now he flashed us. I stayed on the ground in a daze, waiting for the others to come and help me to my feet.

"Does anybody see the virus?" asked Green.

"No," said Yellow, "It must've escaped."

"Are you okay, Blue?" called Red.

"I'm fine!" I called back.

"Ranger Blue?"

"I said I'm fine!"

"Where is she? She was right there a second ago." asked Red.

"Guys! I haven't gone anywhere!" I screamed, now genuinely afraid.

"Blue? Ranger Blue? Where did you go? We can't see you!"

Now everyone was doing it. Either this was their idea of a sick joke, or they legitimately couldn't see or hear me. I heard footsteps as Rangers Yellow and Red walked over to where I was. How could they not see me? They took a few more steps and were all of a sudden standing inside me. Red's foot was in my stomach and Yellow's foot was in my head. I didn't feel anything. Their feet just went right through me, like I wasn't even there.

"Stop standing in me, you dweebs!" I sobbed.

"Power down." said the others.

"I don't get it, guys," said Riley, "Rachel was right there and now she's gone."

"What if the virus took her?" asked Marcus.

"She would've fought back."

"Not without this, she wouldn't." said Marcus.

He had picked up my Digitizer from the ground. It must've been laying where my arm used to be until it became all ghostified or whatever. Great, now I'm invisible, transparent, powerless, and, none of my friends can hear me.

"Her Digitizer…" said Riley, "I don't like where this is going."

"Well, whatever happened to her, she isn't here," said Oz, "I vote we return to Headquarters and see what Silver suggests."

I stood up on my own and my body still went right through them. I wished desperately that I could teleport and take the shortcut to Sector 0, but, without my Digitizer, I couldn't follow them.

A thought had just occurred to me. Am I invisible to everyone? Or just to my friends? I needed to find more people. But, at this hour, that would be unreasonable. I guess now would be as good as any to get some sleep. I can start trying to figure out what happened to me later. Not exactly the way I wanted to get back to sleep, but, I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

"**Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"**

"So, you say that Rachel just disappeared?" I asked.

"She volunteered to take a full blast from the Camera Virus, but instead of flashing her, it took her picture," said Riley, "Then it flashed us one last time before escaping and when the light subsided, Rachel was gone."

"Well, I can tell you right now that she hasn't gone anywhere," I said, "But finding her will not be easy."

"I don't get it," said Heath, "If she's still here then why didn't she bring her Digitizer?"

"More importantly, why couldn't we see her?" asked Marcus.

I headed over to the console and pulled up the Camera Virus' statistical file again. As I examined it carefully, I realized what our mistake was and slammed my fist down in frustration.

"Riley, your sister is a photographer, correct?" I said.

"Yeah, why?"

"Does she have a dark room?" I asked.

"Well, of course she has a-"

He understood now too. Rachel hadn't gone anywhere. The virus was probably based on an older camera, the photos from needed to develop before they could be seen. We had been so concerned with figuring out a way to destroy its flash bulb that we didn't notice. Rachel's ranger powers must've acted as scapegoat for most of the attack, which resulted in her being effected by only a small percent of it. Rather than completely vanish into the Camera Virus' film, Rachel transformed into an incorporeal form. Therefore, nobody will be able to see or hear her until she develops in a dark room.

"Long story short," I said for the rest of the room, "The Camera Virus has made it so that nobody can see or hear Rachel."

"So, it's up to me to figure out a way to communicate her," said Riley, "Once I do that, I'm going to tell her to go to my sister's dark room."

"And that will undo whatever happened to her?" asked Marcus.

"It has to," I said, "Because it's the only plan we've got."

"Alright…" said Heath, "Then I guess that leaves me and Marcus to track down the virus."

"**Rachel Parker"**

I woke up several hours later. As I got to my feet, I noticed that I seemed to be lighter than was before. Maybe I'm even more a ghost now than I was earlier? Maybe the further you progress into being a ghost, the less you exist physically? That would explain why the others were standing in me. All I knew was that I needed to find a way to regress before my mind ceases to exist like my body already did.

Although I could be Casper's sister, I didn't have any of the other features of ghosts. I couldn't fly or walk through walls, but I could walk through people. It was kind of fun, actually. Every time I walked through someone they shivered as if I dropped an ice cube down their back.

Eventually I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't a ghost. If I was a ghost, my stomach would be dead, like me and therefore not growl. That made me feel a bit better, I guess. Now I knew I was just invisible and intangible. I didn't bother trying to talk to anyone though, because they even if they heard me, they'd think my voice came from someone they could see or touch, not an invisible stranger.

On the bright side, I could sneak onto transport shuttles without paying. It made it pretty easy to get around the city. I knew I probably shouldn't be moving, but I was so bored that I didn't really care. The others would be looking for me in the wrong place now that I was wandering around aimlessly, but, then again, they might be going after the virus first.

It was at least noon by the time I stepped off the shuttle into Sector 13. I slept for about six hours which meant I had been on the move for roughly four hours. My perception of time was probably not the most reliable right now though. These calculations come from what I've seen of the sun, so, I could be totally wrong.

I hitched a ride on a bus until I reached Riley's street. Even though I lived across the street from him, I remembered back to when I was a little and felt so safe in his house. Thinking about that brought tears to my eyes. If I never got to see Riley again, I'd never get to tell him how I feel about him or hear him admit that he's been in love with me for so long. I'd never get to groan and roll my eyes at Marcus' terrible jokes or punch Oz when he hit on me. It was being a ranger that brought us all together and made our bond even stronger. How could it have been that hours ago I was complaining about losing sleep because of these stupid viruses.

I stopped on the porch and raised my hand to knock. I held it aloft for a minute until I remembered that it would be pointless to try. I ran my hand through the doorknob angrily as if I was swatting a fly.

"Maybe if I concentrate, I can grab the door." I said aloud to myself.

Is it really aloud if only you can hear it? I think that would make it part of your inner monologue. Anyways, I tried to clear my mind of all the fear and panic that had been building up until now and slowly moved my hand into place. Still concentrating on the doorknob and nothing else, I closed my fingers and almost leapt back in shock. I was holding it! I quietly pulled the door open and crept inside. I could hear Amanda talking to someone. After closing the door I crept over to where her voice was coming from. I peered around the corner and saw Riley's sister sitting on the couch, with a confused look on her face.

"No, Mr. Parker, Rachel isn't here," she said, "I think Riley knows she's missing though, because he hasn't been home in a while either."

"Don't say that, Richard, I can guarantee that Riley will find her."

My father is actually pretty great. When Riley's parents passed away, my Mom got sick shortly afterwards. Dad saw it as a sign and quit drinking cold turkey. A few months later, Mom died. Cirrhosis, I think. She'd had a bad liver from birth and died from it even though she hardly ever drank. It made no sense, but Dad never started up again. So, if I had to guess, it sounds like the stress of not knowing where I am is making him feel like relapsing.

Now I was downright sobbing. I turned on my heels and dashed up the stairs. The door to Riley's room was thankfully open. I flopped down on his bed and cried into his pillow.

I don't know how long I stayed there. I cried until it started to hurt and then just kept lying there.

"Where were you?" asked Amanda from downstairs, "Ranger stuff?"

"Not exactly," said a voice, "I can't find Rachel."

If I didn't know any better, I would say it sounded like Riley…

"Don't tell me you've given up?"

"No," said the voice again, "There's still one place I haven't looked."

I heard footsteps. They were getting louder. Someone was coming up the stairs. I saw them when they reached the landing; it was Riley. He came into the room and collapsed on his bed, once again his body went right through me.

"Where are you Rachel!?" he sighed.

Something fell from the ceiling. It landed on Riley's head. So he picked it up. It was picture of us together taken when we were maybe 10. His parents had just died and we were standing on top of their graves, holding hands. I remember that day, it was their funeral. Riley said to me that if we ever got married he wanted to name our kids after them.

"It had to be you that turned invisible, didn't it?" he sighed again, "The one person I can usually always turn to when I'm out of ideas."

This was torture. He was lying in me and had no idea. I guess I would have to do something. I sat up and walked over to his desk. Using the same technique as earlier, I managed to pick up a pen and write "I'm here, you nimrod" on a piece of paper. When I finished, I deliberately threw the pen at his head.

"Ow! What the…?" he said, sitting up.

He saw it. I knew right away. His whole mood changed instantly.

"Why do you think I came here last?" he said.

"Who are you trying to kid?" I said, "You were so scared that you couldn't think straight and had to come back here."

I forgot that he couldn't hear me.

"Follow me," he said, "Silver and I have an idea."

He went downstairs and into the living room. I followed him obediently.

"Sis, can you set up the dark room for me?"

"Like, right now?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I suppose."

The three of us went into a small, inconspicuous room that hidden in their cellar.

"I assume this has something to do with Rachel?" asked Amanda.

"You'll see soon enough." he said.

Amanda fumbled around in the darkness for a while until she found a string. She pulled it and a red light bulb flickered on. Then she asked Riley bring her a few things, which he did, rather quickly. I had no idea what she was doing, but Riley seemed pretty determined. After about half an hour, Amanda clapped her hands and 'Vanna Whited' the prepped room with her arms.

"It should be good to go." she said.

"Thanks," said Riley, "Go tell Mr. Parker that Rachel is okay."

"Where is she?"

"Around here somewhere," he said, "You'll see her once she develops."

"What?"

"Ranger stuff." He said.

"I see," she said, "I'll be upstairs, spreading the good news."

Riley waited for her to leave before he announced to the room at large.

"Rachel, you'll have to take off your clothes," he said, "If you don't, the parts of your body that are covered might stay invisible."

He had a point. I mean, we have seen each other naked before, but we were too young to notice or care. Besides, he wouldn't see anything until I became visible again anyways.

Luckily, I didn't have to concentrate in order to strip down.

"Alright," said Riley, "If you're ready, I'm going to close the door."

I don't know how he expected me to answer him, but it didn't matter because I was ready. Hell, I had been ready since the moment I became invisible. He slowly closed the door. Since I didn't really know what else to do, I paced around the room randomly. I kept having to remind myself not to instinctively cover my you know, lady parts with my hands. I they didn't become visible again there wouldn't be much point in having them.

I still had no way of knowing what time it was or how long I had been in there. I counted to a thousand several times, mississippis and all. I couldn't even look at myself to see if I was becoming more solid because I had always seen myself the same way.

I jumped and shrieked when I noticed that door was opening. Now, I covered myself again, horrified that Riley might see me naked in present day. Because, frankly this is not how I wanted it to happen.

"Holy fuck, Riley! Don't you knock!?" I exploded.

"Relax, sweetie, it's me," said Amanda, "He said you'd need clothes before he could come get you."

Of course. How silly of me. Riley had always been a perfect gentlemen. Except for the obvious flaws.

I lowered my hands. It's nothing she hasn't seen before. We change into swimsuits together all the time.

"Wait a minute," I said, "You can see me?"

"Of course."

"And you're talking to me? That means you can hear me too!"

I was so happy that I ran over for a big hug, completely forgetting the fact that I was in my birthday suit.

After several apologies for hugging her while naked, Amanda gave me some of her old clothes which fit me like a glove.

I made my way back upstairs and hugged everyone in the room. My Dad was there, along with Silver and Marcus. I even hugged Oz, but slapped him across the face when he pinched my left butt cheek.

"Good to have you back, Rachel." said Silver, after my Dad and Amanda were out of earshot.

"Let's celebrate later," I said, "We've still got the Camera Virus to take care of."

"No we don't." said Marcus.

"It turns out that the Camera Virus was disposable," said Oz, "There's no trace of it anywhere in the city."

"I believe Trojan gave it a limited lifespan so that it would delete itself automatically after taking a picture," said Silver, "He probably thought that we would never figure out how to reverse its spell."

"Well then he's an idiot," I said, getting teary despite my best efforts, "With friends like you guys, nothing is impossible."

"By the way," said Silver, "I thought you might want this back."

He handed me my Digitizer and I securely fastened it on my wrist, back where it belonged. Once it recognized me, the Codec let out a burst of blue light again. Everything was back to the way it should be.

"I'm surprised neither of you tried to spy on me while I was in the dark room." I said, directly to Marcus and Oz.

"Why would we do that?" asked Marcus.

"We wouldn't have seen you anyways." said Oz.

"If you knew that I was naked in there," I said, "That wouldn't have stopped you."

Their eyes went wide as Riley and I cracked up laughing.

"What's the matter guys? You look like you've seen a ghost." I said.


	7. The Promotion

Sector 3 Slums, Hardware Store  
Metro City, Canada  
May 22th, 2015  
9:30 AM

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

"Oscaker! My office, now!" barked my boss, Mr. Regis.

If you were to look up the word "irony" in the dictionary, you'd find him. He's the biggest tool you'd ever meet in your life, guaranteed. Appropriately, he works in a hardware store, where they sell tools. Me and most of the other staff around here all have a bet going to see how long it'll take for someone to ask Mr. Regis how much he costs. Did you get it? Cause he's a tool, people should think he's for sale.

Need more proof? The guy doesn't even bother to try and pronounce my name properly. He knows damn well what it is; he just doesn't bother making a conscious effort to remember.

And no, this is not just an average employee bitching to anybody who'll listen about how awful their boss is, this is me telling you straight up that I think he's a prick whose authority I still have to respect regardless.

His office was lined with money. His wallpaper is literally made up of all sorts of bills. They're legal tender, too. Then, on top of that, the greedy bastard super-glued millions upon millions of coins. From an aesthetic point of view, it actually looks really cool, but from a personal point-of-view, I see it as him silently saying: "I've got enough money to decorate my whole office with and I'm still richer than you."

"How long you been workin' here?" said Mr. Regis, "Five, six months?"

"No, sir, almost two years now."

"Right, of course," said Mr. Regis, "Thought it was something like that."

If I had to guess, he was probably about to fire me for no particular reason. He did that fairly often. He'd want to change things up, so he'd recruit new people and fire the old ones.

"Did you hear about what happened to Ned?"

"No, sir, he ain't on my shift." I said.

"Boneheaded idgit had an accident with the power saw," continued Mr. Regis, "Let's just say he won't really be able to give high-fives anymore."

Ned was a veteran around here. As a member of the union, he couldn't be fired to bring in new recruits. Out of everyone that works here, I'd say that Ned was the most careful. It didn't seem possible for him to have cut off some of his fingers.

"With him out of commission, there's a job available," said Mr. Regis, "So, since you're now the veteran around here, I thought you might be interested in a promotion."

I must've misheard him. Mr. Regis NEVER promoted people. I'm not kidding. At this store, the term 'veteran' means anyone that's been working in their current position for over a year.

"I might be," I said, trying not to sound ecstatic, "What would the new position entail?"

"You'd get a 25% pay raise in exchange for slightly longer shifts and more duties," said Mr. Regis, "For example, you'd have to start opening or closing the store on weekends and you'd be allowed to use the power saw (among other things) to fill orders for cut wood."

It doesn't sound too bad. More cash and more shifts. It's not much, but when your family isn't even living from paycheck to paycheck, anything is better than nothing.

"I'll take it." I said.

Later that day, after my final shift before the promotion, I teleported to headquarters. Silver should be informed about this, since there's a chance it will affect my availability for ranger duties. Also, I wanted Silver to look into this incident that left Ned without fingers.

"I don't see what there is to look into, Heath," said Silver, when I told him, "Accidents happen. This one was tragic, but it seems as though that's all it is."

"Don't say that until you actually have proof." I said.

"Why does this Ned guy de-fingering himself have you so worried, Oz?" asked Marcus, "So what if he can't pick his nose anymore? That doesn't mean there's a virus at work."

"Guys, Ned had worked there for almost thirty years," I said, "If he was going to have an accident, don't you think he would've had it during his first year?"

The looks on their faces very clearly indicated for me to drop it.

"Silver, could you please just humour me?"

"Fine," he said, "But if something else comes up in the meantime, that will be our first priority."

"Of course," I said, "Thanks."

My Mom was happy for me, but at the same time was distraught. She saw it as more proof of her being a failure. I tried to tell her I didn't think of her as failure, but she didn't believe me.

"It's great that you got promoted, Heath, I'm very proud of you," she said, "But you already have so much on your plate."

"I can handle it, Ma," I said, "Besides, once you're deemed able to work again, I can quit and get an easier, part-time job or something."

"It shouldn't be your responsibility to pay the bills though, honey," she said, "It should be mine."

"You think I don't know that?" I said, "But that's just not an option at this point."

"Thank you, son," she said, "Someday, you'll make an amazing husband."

"If you're using Dad as a comparison, then even a fire hydrant would make an amazing husband."

The way I saw it, was that she had raised me for eighteen years. So, now it was my turn to take care of our family while she's out of commission. Nobody really knows what exactly happened to her after Dad left. I guess she just sort of lost the will to live. He was her whole world before me and my little sisters came around. So, without Dad around, she just sunk deeper and deeper into depression. Eventually, she started hearing voices and was almost diagnosed as schizophrenic. It wasn't until her negligence almost got baby Heather killed that she snapped out of it. That was two years ago. She's much better now, but until her doctors and shrinks are convinced that she's better, it's up to me to bring home the bacon.

"You got a pwomotion, Heat?" asked Heather.

"Yeah," I said, picking her up, "Which means that we might have enough money to buy you a real doll, like a Barbie."

"Well, how much of a raise did Regis give you?" asked my Mom.

"25%"

"That's nothing to be ashamed of." she said.

"I'll take your word for it, Ma," I said, "You know math and I don't get along."

"They would if you had enough time to sit down and do your homework once in a while.

"Yeah, I know," I said, "But as long as I'm not failing, I can still play football, which means I can still get my scholarship."

"You won't last long in college if there's too much on your plate," she said, "Because eventually, they start end up mixing together until you can't recognize it anymore."

"I can handle it," I said again, "Don't worry about me, focus on getting back on your feet."

"**Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"**

Everything was going as planned. Soon, the Yellow Ranger would be all alone in that hardware store, completely unaware that I have a virus that remains dormant until it strikes. It cut off that old crone's fingers accidentally, I can't wait to see what it can do when it attacks intentionally.

Dr. Molex assured me that it would be unstoppable once it wakes up. Mind you, those statistics are only based on a situation where it would be a one-on-one fight. By keeping the virus dormant, that meddling Stephen won't even get so much a click from it on his radar.

Assuming that my calculations are correct, the Yellow Ranger will be all alone for several hours tomorrow while he opens up the store. If he tries to escape, I can hack into the motorized doors and trap him in there.

"My Lord," said General Berg, "Should I prepare some Replicators for tomorrow's invasion?"

"Yes, absolutely General Berg," I said, "I think this is the perfect time to give Ranger Yellow more than he can handle."

The reason the Firearm Virus failed was partly my fault. I was paranoid to use all my resources at once and my fears resulted in the rangers destroying it too easily. Had I sent an army of Replicators into the bank with the virus, maybe things might have gone differently.

So, this time I had no intention of holding back. The whole point of setting up these traps was to eliminate the rangers individually so that they can't work as a team and emerge victorious.

"Dr. Molex, I assume you modified the patch machine to work faster?" I asked.

"Of course," he said, "I live only to serve you."

Good, that means there won't be any more delays in the future. Another one of my crucial mistakes that resulted in the Firearm Virus' destruction was that I took my time installing the rapid growth upgrade patch. Had I not, he would've been big enough to squash the rangers like bugs before they could even summon their Zords.

Just like how the rangers learn something that makes them stronger after each fight, I too learn something that will make their next fight harder. Ultimately, I will surpass them and I will eradicate them. Metro City is already as good as mine!

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

The next day was my first new shift. Mr. Regis gave me my own set of keys. Today I was supposed to open up the store. I had to be there four hours before the store was actually opened up to the public, which was at 9:00am. I don't know why I had to be there so early. The guys that close the store are supposed to get everything ready then, so that whoever opens it just has to turn on the machines and whatnot. I suppose it didn't really matter whether or not I understood it. I was told to do it, so that's what I was going to do.

This was the first time I had ever been completely alone in the store. It looked so much bigger without all the people.

Mr. Regis' change of heart still seemed peculiar to me, but, since it resulted in a promotion, I probably shouldn't question it too much. I mean, what if I think about it so much that I stop believing it to be true? At that point, I might end up waking myself up from this otherwise wonderful dream. I suppose there would be other telltale signs if this was a dream. For one thing, I'd probably have seen Rachel, along with pretty much every other babe from our school in scantily clad outfits by now. Obviously I haven't seen that though, so, if I'm lucky this isn't a dream.

When I got into the staff room there was a clipboard with a checklist of things to do on it. First it said to power on the all the overhead lights, which I guess take a really long time to actually reach their maximum brightness. Next, I needed to prime all the plywood. Which is something that I know for a fact gets done by the night guys. However, at some point between their shift and my shift, it got undone. Priming is the term used to describe the process of rotating and organizing cut plywood. When you're done, it looks much more presentable. Next, I needed to make sure that all the returns were put away back on the shelves. After that, the checklist said to examine each aisle and ensure that there was ladder available for customers to use to reach higher shelves.

Finally, I had to go pest hunting. This was by far the best part of my job. In my life, I've only been asked to do it twice. It is so much that I would happily spend the rest of my life doing it. Because the garden section of the store was outdoors, birds, insects and other animals often managed to enter the indoor sections. From there, they would steal merchandise and use it to create makeshift nests for themselves. So, it was now my job to get rid of the pests by any means necessary.

"I can understand why this was last," I said to myself, "It would've been too dark in here otherwise."

At this point, it was around 7:00am, which meant I had less than two hours to clear out the store. To get started, I decided to check the floorboards and aisles first, since it would be easier to catch the bigger mammals and rodents that might have gotten in. I found myself making animal calls instinctively. Unfortunately, since I had no idea what kind of sound things like badgers or possums made, I was basically just making an ass out of myself.

After an hour and a half of searching, I didn't find anything with four legs, so, I decided to switch my attention to anything that would have six. I was fortunate not to be allergic to bees or relatives of bees because I found a massive hornet's nest on the roof. That must have been there for a long time for it to be so big. How nobody else saw it before now was a question for the ages, but how I was going to get rid of it was a question for right here and now.

Since there weren't any guns in this store, I found the next best thing in the form of a nail gun. They have lousy range, but more than enough power to break up a hornet's nest into small chunks with ease.

Before trying to nail a hornet's nest with my nail gun, I pulled a mesh mask over my head that I took from the garden section. Now that I was somewhat protected, I took aim at the nest.

"Please don't let this backfire on me…" I muttered under my breath.

I fired one lone nail. It ricocheted off the steel rafters above and lodged itself deep into the plastic part of the power saw, shattering it.

"Oh, shit…" I moaned, "That's definitely coming out of my paycheck…"

There was less than thirty minutes before the customers would start coming in, and less than that for the rest of the staff. I knew a really quick and easy way to get of the nest.

"Nobody's looking…" I said, "What's the harm in giving myself the upper hand?"

I took the mesh hat off and threw it on the ground. It itched like crazy anyways.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I hollered.

As soon as I morphed, there was a great roaring sound from somewhere I couldn't see. I looked up and used my visor to examine the nest. I could see that it wasn't even organic; it was cardboard. Why would there be a fake hornet's nest up there? It was almost as if somebody knew I was lazy enough to morph just to take down the nest… Fuck! I probably just fell right into a trap.

"Come in, Silver, are you there?" I whispered.

"Why did you morph, Heath?"

"Because I'm an idiot," I said, "I think I just took the bait."

"I'm not picking up any signals in your vicinity," said Silver, "So, if there's a virus, it must be hiding itself from my radar somehow."

"Then send the others to my location so that I at least have back-up."

"If I did, I would be putting them in harm's way of the trap too," said Silver, "You'll need to fend for yourself until I can formulate a plan."

"You hypocrite," I said, "First you set me up to learn the value of teamwork, and now that I need the others you're not going to send them?"

"Heath, it's not like that!"

"Yes it is!" I snapped, "If that's how I can expect to be treated for risking my life time and time again then I'd much rather work here. At least at my job I get paid for being treated like crap!"

How could he do this to me!? I'm begging him for help and he acts like I'm the kid from the boy who cried wolf! Obviously he must've forgotten that the kid gets eaten at the end! I just hope my story has a happier ending. I'd rather take up ballet than die without being able to at least gloat by saying "I told you so!"

By now, my Digitizer was picking up signals. I couldn't see from where yet, but I knew I would find them and kick their asses. I took solace in the fact that Mr. Regis doesn't come in on weekends. So, at least I won't get fired for not being at work when I'm supposed to be.

The roaring sound kept getting louder as I neared the back of the store.

"Of course…" I muttered, "The power saw."

"Show yourself, the jig is up!" I screamed.

I watched in amazement as a virus emerged from the power saw.

"You found me!" it said, "Now it's your turn to hide!"

"I'm no coward." I said.

"Then prove it!" snapped the Virus.

It snapped its fingers and seconds later a group of ten Replicators materialized around me. I was completely surrounded and completely outnumbered.

"Alright then," I snarled, "Have it your way."

The Power Saw Virus snapped his fingers again and the Replicators tried to swarm me. I turned tail and sprinted away, chuckling to myself as they stumbled over themselves.

I needed to show them that I wasn't afraid. I needed to show them this was territory. What a better way to do that than use what I had. As I ran towards the garden section doors, I grabbed a light bulb and some batteries from off the shelves. Once I cleared the doors, I dove out of sight, but tripped over a bucket of water, which spilled all over the ground. I looked up and saw that I was right next to a garden hose.

"Not exactly what I had in mind, but it'll do." I wheezed.

I took the light bulb and the batteries because I had intended to spray the ground with a hose and electrocute it with them. I'd still be able to, but the water came from a different source. I quickly set the bucket right side up and was surprised to see that there was still quite a decent amount of water left in it. So, I dumped it right in the middle of the main aisle.

The Replicators finally found me just as I had begun to climb up the shelves.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" I asked, "I'm right here! Come and get me!"

They looked at each other, rubbing their heads stupidly. Then, after making up their minds, I guess, three of them walked forward apprehensively, only to step right into the electrified puddle.

"Shocking, isn't it?" I said to the Replicators that hadn't moved.

They stepped over the puddle and their comrades, who were now shaking uncontrollably. As the three on the ground imploded, the seven others scattered, probably in an attempt to surround me again. I had climbed up to the rafters now, having used the shelves as a ladder. From up here, I could throw more batteries at them when they stepped into the second puddle.

The Replicators were so dumb that they kept going in circles around the shelves, never once looking up to see if I was still up there. I just hoped they were all in the garden section with me, because if they weren't, the rest of them would be multiplying back inside the main building.

Eventually the Replicators started to huddle up in the middle of the largest aisle; which, unbeknownst to them, was exactly where I wanted them to stand. I tossed a small handful of batteries into the puddle and electrocuted them just like I had done to the others.

As their last actions before imploding, the Replicators looked up and saw me in the rafters. Talk about too little, too late.

Now, all I had to do was get rid of the Power Saw Virus. I made it sound so easy. That thing would be unstoppable if it charged at me and I doubt it would be stupid enough to fall into traps like the Replicators did.

"Need some help?" asked Riley, from behind me.

"No!" I snapped.

"How did you get yourself into this mess?" said Rachel, also from behind me, "You know better than to pick a fight without contacting us first."

"I did contact you," I said, "Silver answered and told me he didn't want to risk sending any back-up."

"Does that really sound like something he would do?"

"No, but he did it anyway."

"I don't think so," said Riley, "I think there's something else at work here."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I think Trojan is trying to get rid of each of us individually."

"What do you mean?"

"The same sort of thing happened to Amanda and I at the bank," said Riley, "Then a few days later, Rachel gets turned invisible by a virus that died immediately afterwards."

"Now it looks like it's your turn." said Marcus.

"Well, then if that's the case," I said, "Let's throw a curve ball and tip the odds back in our favour."

I hopped down from the rafters and quickly brought the others up to speed.

"Come in, rangers!" came Silver's voice.

"Do you have an explanation for our conversation earlier?" I asked.

"Heath, what are you talking about?" he said, "We never spoke earlier."

"Then who was it that told me it was too dangerous to send back-up?"

There was a period of silence. During it, all that could be heard was the distant sound of Silver typing.

"It was Trojan," he said eventually, "There was some sort of answering machine set up to intercept any calls you tried to make."

We all jumped as the large motorized doors flew open automatically. I was horror struck. Those doors were the only thing keeping people out. With them under Trojan's control, it'll be up to us to destroy the virus and protect the people.

"He must be controlling the doors remotely," said Marcus, "I thought he wanted to trap you in here?"

"I guess we were wrong." said Riley.

"No you weren't," said Silver, "Now that Heath has backup, Trojan is improvising."

"That dirty, rotten cheater." muttered Rachel.

"He can do whatever he wants," I said, "It still won't be enough to take us down."

"He's right," said Marcus, "We'll win as long as we work together."

"Are you getting a signal from the virus now Silver?" asked Riley.

"A very faint one, but yes," he said, "According to my database, its #3P4O1S8A, it seems to be made from a power saw or something."

"So then how do we defeat it?" I asked.

"It says here that its weak spot is on its back," said Silver, "Attacking it anywhere else is useless."

"Alright then," said Riley, "Let's ranger up!"

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" they screamed.

With all four us morphed, we huddled up to form a plan.

"Yellow," said Red, "You know the layout of this place best. So, you and I will be on offense."

"Shouldn't we all be on offense?" asked Ranger Green.

"No, because somebody needs to protect the civilians." said Blue.

"I'm counting on you two to keep them safe." said Red.

"We're on it." said Blue and Green together.

We broke apart quickly. Red followed me back to the indoor section while the others split up to guard a door. I have no idea what all those people could possibly need, but they seemed furious at Blue and Green even though they just saved their lives. Maybe next time we won't bother.

"Wait a minute…" said the Virus, "There was only supposed to one of you!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," said Ranger Red, "There's been a slight change of plans."

"You're not feeling overwhelmed, are you?" I teased.

Instead of answering us with words, the virus glared. Its menacing blades began to spin as sized us up.

"Download weapon!" we said in unison.

The virus thrust out its hands and groaned, apparently in pain as two sword-like blades extended from its wrists.

"My whole body is a weapon," it said, "Yours will make a nice addition to my collection."

"Over my dead body!" snapped Red.

He ran over to a shopping cart and leapt inside. After standing up like he was on a surfboard, he beckoned me to come over and give him a push. I obeyed and grabbed on to its handle. The virus watched us intently as I broke into a run. Once I had gathered enough momentum, I let go of the cart, which had now been given a soapbox style launch.

Ranger Red was poised to strike the virus with his sword when the cart crashed. He knew it wouldn't hurt it, but I guess it was a test to see how powerful the virus' blades were or something like that.

In a flash, the Power Saw Virus had dashed forwards. It took a while for things to catch up to it, but as I watched, Red's cart collapsed, having been sliced into several pieces. Luckily, he didn't suffer the same fate as his chariot.

Just then, I saw what he saw. Ranger Red was now facing the virus' back. He had planned the whole thing. No wonder he's our leader…

In an effort to buy Red more time, I sprang into action and tried to uppercut the Power Saw Virus with my mallet. It kicked me away like a deflated soccer ball and then turned on Red, slashing him across the chest.

This was going from bad to worse. I needed to finish this quick. As I tried to give my brain a kick start, I turned my head and saw that the nail gun I had brought out earlier was still on the ground, hidden under a barbeque that was on display.

I carefully reached for it, hoping that I could grab it without drawing any unwanted attention to myself.

Then, from out of nowhere, I heard a familiar voice scream.

"What in the sphincter of hell is going on here, Osborne!?"

It was Mr. Regis. What was he doing here? He normally doesn't come in on weekends. I suppose he came to check on me. He won't find me unless I power down though. However, if I do that, not only will he learn my secret, but I would have to abandon the others when they need me.

Eventually, they end up mixing together until you can't recognize them anymore… I suppose this is what Mom had been warning me about. But, how do I un-mix everything? Is it even possible? I'll bet if I was to take one piece out of the equation that I'd be able to make sense of things again. Which piece do I remove though? Being a ranger, or working to provide money for my family?

I started to think back to the day I fought the Extension Cord Virus. I remembered thinking that being a ranger made me feel good about myself. To be fair, so did working. Then I went even further back and remembered what Silver had told us before we took our Codecs from him. He had said that if Metro City falls, the rest of the world will follow shortly afterwards. No matter which way I looked at it, both of these things were important. But only one of them would result in the destruction of humankind. There was no doubt about it.

The Power Saw Virus turned and saw Mr. Regis. It charged at him with its arms outstretched. Since I had already missed my chance, I got up and tackled my former boss to the ground within an inch of both our lives. The virus kept going. It was headed straight for another swarm of people when suddenly it stumbled over something. It hit the ground and skidded to a stop. I used my visor to zoom in for a closer look. It had tripped over a hose. Rangers Blue and Green emerged from opposite aisles. They must have been waiting there, ready to pull the hose snug when the timing was right.

"Have a nice trip." said Blue.

"See you next fall." said Green.

"Dammit, Green," said Ranger Blue, "You're contagious! Look what you made me say!"

Not wasting any time, I got back up and stood over the Power Saw Virus. It was too dazed to realize that its weak point was exposed. I lowered the nail gun until it was already touching the virus' back and unloaded the whole supply of nails. With each click, the virus snarled in excruciating pain. Had it been a person, the nails would've lodged themselves deep into its spine. With a shudder, a spiral of corrupted binary appeared over the virus. It was about to grow.

"Are you still alive, Red?" I called.

"I'm answering you, aren't I?" he called back.

"Silver, it's Zord time." I said.

I heard him typing again. We all assembled into our trademark diamond formation.

"Rangers, the Data Zords await your command." he said.

Making sure not to summon them all at once, we began to call out to our Zords.

"Download Data Zord!" called Green, "Emerald Gorilla!"

"Download Data Zord!" called Red, "Ruby Fox!"

"Download Data Zord!" called Blue, "Sapphire Marlin!"

"Download Data Zord!" I called, "Topaz Rhino!"

Once they had all materialized, we hopped into their cockpits and grabbed the wheels.

"Commence Megazord transformation sequence!" said Ranger Red.

Don't ask me how or why, but whenever we formed the Megazord, each of us could see what was happening from an angle above the action, even though we never left our cockpits.

My Rhino Zord became the legs; on one of the feet were the horns from its head. Since the first time we formed the Megazord, I had been eager to try kicking something with it. Sadly, it wouldn't do anything to the Power Saw Virus.

Piece by piece the Data Zords transformed until they were all properly attached in their designated locations. Once the Megazord was completed, I seemed to wake up already inside of it, as if everything I had just seen was a dream. The others were inside the head with me now; each of them had a steering mechanism of some kind which controlled their individual part of the Megazord.

"Cyberspace Megazord, online!" we announced together.

"I sliced that shopping cart as if it was made of butter, rangers!" said the Virus, "What makes you think that your metal robot will fare any differently?"

"Ranger Green, make us spin." said Red.

"I'll hold out the sword-arm," said Blue, "So far, nothing has been able to withstand our cyclone attack thingy."

"From now on, let's call it the Cyber Cyclone," I said, "Nobody takes people who say words like 'thingy' seriously."

Ranger Blue held out our sword arm horizontally and then Ranger Green made the torso rotate at the waist. I controlled the legs and made us walk forward. Rather than retreat or flinch, the Power Saw Virus revved up its blades too.

"Two can play at that game!" it cackled.

Several steps later, our blades clashed with its blades. Sparks flew everywhere, but neither of us intended to back down.

"Rangers," said Silver over the intercom, "I've developed something that will give you a home field advantage. Ranger Red, prepare the Fox Arm."

Red pushed a button to make the left arm temporarily detach from the Megazord. Meanwhile, the rest of us focused on outputting enough force to keep clashing blades with the virus.

"Auxiliary weapon, online." said Ranger Red.

The left arm reattached itself, but now it was holding a nail gun.

"I take it you were watching, Silver?" I chuckled.

"What makes you say that?" he said.

"Ranger Green, on my word, reverse the direction of the cyclone," said Red, "It should knock it off balance and expose the weak spot."

"Let's hope you're right." he said.

We waited and waited and waited. Then, we saw the virus' arm give off the smallest of twitches.

"Now!"

Green cranked the steering wheel all the way to opposite side. This caused the Power Saw Virus to think that it was safe to relax its muscles. But then when the arm came around again, still from the other side, we caught it by surprise. The virus nearly toppled over, and turned around to try and regain its composure. Red took careful aim and then shot nail after nail into the virus' back. It teetered momentarily and then fell straight forward. Before it even hit the ground, it had disintegrated.

We had won.

During the aftermath of the battle, once the Megazord was gone and we had all powered down, I went to see Mr. Regis.

"OSCARMEYER, YOU'RE FIRED!" his voice was loud enough to make the earwax in ears vibrate.

"I don't care." I said, simply.

"What do you mean you don't care?" said Mr. Regis, "You're a two year veteran and the first employee I ever promoted and you're telling me you don't care?"

"That's right."

"Get out of my sight!" he spat.

"With pleasure." I said.

Just then, an opportunity to further humiliate him was presented to me.

"You're a real piece of work, Regitch."

"That's not my name!"

"Oh, I know," I said, "Just like how you know that my name isn't Oscarmeyer, Osborne or Oscaker."

He just gawked at me. He hated being made a fool of. Unfortunately for him, he had to let me get away with it. I mean, it's not like he can fire me again. Besides, the store is pretty destroyed, so even if he hadn't fired me, I wouldn't be able to work there for a while. Hopefully, the viruses will stop growing while still inside buildings.

Although, satisfying as quitting my job was, there was no denying that I was now without an income. I kept trying to reassure myself by repeating a mantra. Is that you call something that you tell yourself over and over again? I think it's called a mantra.

"You did the right thing, Oz, your plate has less stuff on it and the world will benefit from your sacrifice."

Back at headquarters, the others were all congratulating Silver on how quickly he had managed to develop the nail gun for our Megazord.

"Heath," said Silver, urging the others to be quiet, "This is for you."

He handed me a small envelope. It was light and inconspicuous. I tried to see what was inside by holding it up to the light, but I didn't seem to work. I guess I would actually have to open it to discover what was inside it.

"We all know about what you did today," said Rachel, "That can't have been an easy decision to make."

"Actually, it was," I said, "If I kept my job, I would've got money, but the world would've suffered. If I quit my job, I'd end up broke, but the world would keep on turning."

"Which is exactly why I'm giving you that." said Silver.

"Go on, open it." said Marcus.

I carefully tore the envelope open and had to stifle my tears when I saw what was in it.

Silver had given me a cheque for $500,000. Well, okay, technically it was for my family, but regardless of that, I was holding proof of the nicest thing anybody had ever done for me. That is if you exclude my Mom giving birth to and raising me.

"I don't know what to say." I said.

"Thank you might be a good place to start." said Riley.

"Was this your idea, Silver?"

"No, it was theirs," he said, "But that amount of money is nothing when you're as rich as I am."

"I'll pay you back as soon as I can." I said.

"It's not a loan, Heath, it's a gift," said Silver, "Being a ranger and helping me protect the city is more than enough repayment already."

"What about you?" I asked.

"None of us are rich," said Riley, "But none of us need money either."

Even though I never saw hot babes in scantily clad outfits, I still felt as though this was a dream. Unless of course they were waiting for me at home…


	8. No Man's Land

Sector 5 Radio Station  
Metro City, Canada  
May 25th, 2015  
3:31 PM

"**Marcus Reynolds"**

"Howdy folks this is Question Marc and I'm here with my new co-host." I said into the microphone.

"Aloha! I'm Exclamation Point, the new host."

"No, you're the co-host." I said.

"No, you're the co-host." he said.

"Anyways, it's great to have him here on the show with me, so, coming up after these messages are fifteen minutes of uninterrupted songs."

I love how much control I had been given at this job. It started off as a simple internship, but then when the producers saw how much the listeners liked me; they hired me to host their new afterschool show. It runs from 3:30 to 6:30, so, thankfully, there's still plenty of time for ranger duties and whatnot.

Then, earlier today, out of nowhere, they introduce me to this new guy, Sebastian, saying that he was my co-host from now on. It was sort of a 'deal with it or you're fired' kind of scenario, so, I decided to just accept it. He's not too bad. At least he's a nice guy.

"Go ahead and pick the songs," I said, after we had cut to commercials, "The duration calculator will tell you if the songs will last longer than they're supposed to."

"You know what'd be cool?" said Sebastian, "Playing them all backwards!"

"We're not allowed to do that," I said, "Sponsors pay the station to hear songs played normally."

"I know," he said, "But if you play them backwards you can hear satanic messages and shit."

"Don't tell me you believe in that crap." I said.

"Hell, yeah, dude," he said, "In fact, the whole reason that Kiss wore make-up was because their songs are all demonic rituals when played backwards."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, "That's just subliminal messaging."

"Yeah, well, if you ask me we should be allowed to play whatever we want, however we want."

"What's wrong with just playing things normally?"

"Nothing," said Sebastian, "That is, if you're cowardly pussy who's afraid of adventure."

Okay, I take back what I had said earlier. This guy irks me. What the hell kind of name is Sebastian anyways!? He doesn't look like a cartoon crab to me.

"You say that like you're challenging me." I said.

"Yeah," he said, "But are you man enough to accept it?"

"No," I said, "But I am man enough to know that I don't need to prove myself to you."

"Fine then," said Sebastian, "Your loss."

"Even if I did play some songs backwards, nothing would happen."

"How do you know?" he asked, "We might've been able to brainwash some gullible listeners."

"Do you realize how stupid you sound?" I asked.

"Maybe," he said, "But, since it really seems to bother you, I'll drop it, okay?"

"Thank you."

After the show, I had to sneak out back because Sebastian wanted me to give him a tour of Metro City. Normally, I would have, but for one thing, he freaks me out, and for another thing, I know for a fact that he's not new in town. So, why he wants a tour is a mystery to me.

"Guys, I assume you heard my new co-host?" I said into my Digitizer's microphone.

"Yeah, why?" asked Oz.

"I think there's something suspicious about him."

"I can look into it, Marcus, but if he's human, then it'll probably be futile." said Silver.

"Okay, thanks," I said, "I'll be right there."

As I pushed the button on my Digitizer, I felt a hand grab my shoulder, but by then, it was too late to do anything about it. Whoever it was, they were coming with me.

Once we arrived, the others were all just as horrified as I was. I brushed off the hitchhiker angrily and wasn't nearly as surprised as I should have been to see that it was Sebastian.

"You had better have a good reason for bringing him here, Marcus." said Silver.

"I didn't bring him along!" I said, glaring at Sebastian, "He grabbed me while I was in the middle of teleporting!"

"Who do you think you are!?" snorted Rachel.

"My name is Sebastian," he said, "Sebastian Clark."

"Why did you follow me here?" I asked.

"Because…" said Sebastian, "I was looking for the Power Rangers."

"Well, you found us," said Oz, "Now get lost."

"How did you figure out that I was a Power Ranger?" I asked, worried that I might have done something reckless that gave me away.

"I live in Sector 8," said Sebastian, "On the night when you were ghost hunting, I heard just about everything while I was trying to fall asleep."

"You must have good hearing," said Riley, "That's rather impressive."

I can't believe they weren't suspicious of him. His story wasn't all that farfetched, but something told me that it wasn't really true. Something told me that there was something else at work here and that Sebastian was part of it.

"What did you need our help with, Mr. Clark?" asked Silver.

"Don't be so formal with me," said Sebastian, "You can just call me 'Seb', it's easier to remember."

"Alright then Seb," said Silver, "What did you need our help with?"

"I'm being stalked," said Seb, not wasting any time, "I don't know by what, but I know that it's evil. I also think that it wants to use me in its plans."

"Have you ever seen this thing?" asked Rachel.

"No." said Seb.

"Then what makes you think that something is stalking you?"

"I don't know," said Seb, "I've always had really good instincts. Maybe that's why I could hear you from up on the hill so clearly."

"Unless we have a basic physical description of your stalker, trying to find it in our database would be pointless." said Silver.

"Don't worry about that," said Seb, "I think I know where we can find it."

It sounded to me like Sebastian was the stalker. Nothing about his problem made sense. I mean, if you thought you were being stalked, why wouldn't you go to the police first? The only reason he should have been seeking us out was if he already knew that it was a virus. Who was this guy?

"Okay," said Riley, "Just give us a specific location and we'll check it out for you."

"No way," said Seb, "I'm coming along."

"That's completely out of the question!" said Silver, "You've already done more than enough by pointing us in the right direction."

"This is where we take over." said Oz.

"Guys, just let him come with us," I said, "He'd figure out a way to follow us there anyways."

"Yeah." said Seb.

"Fine," said Riley, "Just make sure to stick with Marcus and don't get in our way."

Sebastian walked over to the console. Silver had brought up a large map of Metro City.

"See right here?" he asked, pointing to a blank area on the map.

"No," I said, "You're pointing outside of the map."

"Technically, I'm pointing to Sector 21," said Seb, "Or, at least, where Sector 21 would've been."

"Why would this thing be there?" asked Oz.

"Because it's safe," said Seb, "Sector 21 was never built, so it isn't part of Metro City. But it isn't part of any other city either."

"Just like No Man's Land." said Silver, "During the wars, territory that didn't belong to anybody was referred to as 'No Man's Land."

"I know exactly where this place is." said Seb.

"Let's just hope that'll be enough for our Codecs to take us there." I said.

With Sebastian standing among us, we were able to make a "V" formation, rather than our usual diamond. Not that it really made much of a difference. I had to stifle a laugh when Sebastian grabbed Rachel's hand and got smacked for it. After being shut down by her, he took my wrist instead. As we pushed our teleport buttons, it became clear that it didn't matter if we knew what our destination was, because the trip looked identical to any other. Just having someone who did know in physical contact with one of us was sufficient.

When we arrived, there was thick fog and low light.

"It's so hard to see…" said Rachel.

"We're outside city limits," said Riley, "There won't be any street lights here."

"Where's a flash light when you need one?" asked Oz.

"…ange…s," came Silver's voice, breaking up on the Digitizer, "Use… light…Co…ecs."

"We can't hear you," I said, into my Digitizer, "You're breaking up."

"Sounded like he said to use the light from our Codecs," said Oz, "Not much help, considering we don't know how to make them glow on cue yet."

"I think it's because of how far away from him we are." said Riley.

"Let's hope we can still morph," said Rachel, "Lead the way, Seb."

"I think it's over this hill." he said.

What he called a hill was actually a jagged cliff. It wasn't necessarily very steep, but it was so large that we wouldn't be able to see past it until we climbed closer to the top. On the plus side, the higher we climb, the thinner the fog will become.

"Wait," said Riley, "This is a crater, not a cliff."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"What we're climbing spans in a complete circle," said Riley, "If you look closely, you should be able to see it from here."

I squinted into the distance and saw that there was a sort of wall that led up to the other side of the hill. He was right. Sebastian was probably taking us to something in the impact zone.

"Whatever landed here left a weak, but permanent electromagnetic field behind," said Seb, "After that, this area was deemed too dangerous for construction."

"Which would explain why nobody else ever tried to build here," said Riley, "So this place really is a modern day 'No Man's Land'."

"The chances of us being able to morph are getting worse and worse." I said.

Sebastian didn't say much after that. It was almost as if he had forgotten how. Again, I noticed that the others accepted this easier than I did. He was so talkative before. What changed?

By the time we reached the height of the crater, we could see much better thanks to the light from the almost full moon. We could also see that impact zone was about the size of a baseball diamond, except you know, circular.

"This is it, rangers," said Seb, "My stalker's lair is right down there."

"Then didn't you just think of this place?" snapped Rachel, "It would've saved us the trouble of having to climb up here!"

Just then, down below, something emerged from underground. At first, we didn't know what it was, but after it fired a large laser beam that panned from left to right on the ledge underneath what we were standing on, it was pretty obvious.

"It must be some sort of security feature!" yelped Riley.

"Here it comes again, duck!" shouted Seb.

The laser made a second strafe, this time aiming higher. If we hadn't ducked, it would've gone right through our chests.

"Let's get out of here!" said Oz, loudly, "Jump for it!"

He hopped off the edge of the cliff and landed on the slope below us. It didn't look any different than going tobogganing, minus the sled aspect. Oz picked up speed, but finally came to a halt at the bottom of the impact zone.

"Move it or lose it!" he called up to us, "Get down here before the laser comes back!"

"Geronimo!" shouted Riley, jumping down.

"Sacagawea!" shouted Rachel, jumping down.

"Go on, Marcus," said Seb, "Don't be such a wuss!"

"Will you shut-up!?" I barked, shoving him in the back.

He fell forward and ended up going down on his stomach. I didn't really care if he got hurt; and well, quite frankly, he deserved it.

"Banzai!" I shouted, jumping down in his wake.

Once we were all down in the bottom of the crater, things went from really weird to really, really weird. In the middle of the impact zone was an immense radio tower. Why didn't we see that before now? It's definitely tall enough.

"Something around here must be interfering with our Digitizers," said Riley, "If we take it out, Silver should be able to contact us again."

"And then some." piped in Rachel.

"Don't forget," said Seb, "My stalker might have something to say about that."

"Let him talk," said Oz, "It won't matter."

I took a closer look around. Someone had been tampering with the tower, but I would need more light to see exactly what was done to it, and more importantly, why.

I thought back to what Oz had interpreted from Silver's last transmission. How hard could it be to make my Codec glow? The first time it glowed, I didn't even have to do anything.

I remember that my Codec was already glowing after I had grabbed it and held it tightly in my fist. So, what if all I had to do was hold my Codec in my bare skin again?

I popped off the case on top of my Digitizer and let my Emerald Morph Codec roll out of its slot into my hand. I felt the familiar sensation of warmth and let out a satisfied gasp as it glowed vibrantly.

"Good job, Marcus," said Riley, "We forgot what made them glow."

"Yeah, just hold them in your hands and they should glow for you."

"I'll take that." said Seb, smacking my outstretched arm.

The sudden impact made my Codec bounce away and allowed Sebastian to grab it.

"Trust me," he said, "You won't need it anymore."

"I don't care," I said, "Give me back my Codec."

"No." he said, juggling it to prevent us from taking it back.

"You're wasting your time!" barked Riley, "Only Marcus can use that Codec!"

"Who said anything about me using it?" asked Seb.

"You just want me to be powerless…" I said.

"Now you're catching on." said Seb.

"I don't get it, guys," said Oz, "What's he doing?"

"This whole thing is a set-up," said Riley, "He led us here because he knew it was a 'No Man's Land'."

"You really are the smart one, aren't you Riley?" said Seb.

"Who put you up to this?" I asked.

"Is it really so hard to believe that I came up with this on my own?" asked Seb.

"Yeah," I said, "Now tell me who you're working for."

"That would be me!" cackled a muffled voice.

From the very top of the radio tower, something had materialized and was now floating down.

"This is who I serve!" cackled Seb, his voice adopting the same sound as the thing that was on its way down.

"Serve this!" I snarled, tackling Sebastian to the ground.

"Come on, Reynolds!" he teased, "Show me what you're made of!"

"I plan to…" I said.

Still pinning him on the ground, I lost my grip when he head butted me. I bit my lip during the blow and spat blood out of my mouth.

"My Master told me everything there is to know about you rangers," said Seb, kneeing me hard in the stomach, "Including that you four can't fight without morphing."

That wasn't entirely true. The Codecs chose us to be the vessels for their powers as soon as we first touched them. From that point on, the genetic bond between us began to grow stronger and stronger. By now, we can do most of the fighting moves that we acquired with our powers, but we're still much weaker in civilian form. As the bond grows, so will our mastery of un-morphed combat.

So, to prove a point, I entered a somersault and grabbed Sebastian's shoulders. During the flip part, I threw him using the momentum from the somersault. He smacked into the solid metal radio tower, but got back up quickly.

"Mind you," he said, cracking his neck, "I wasn't really paying much attention."

Almost as if my Digitizer was cheering for me from the sidelines, it automatically began acting like a two-way radio. That mess of cables I saw was only disrupting long-range signals, so, I could hear the others just fine.

"I guess we're supposed to deal with the Master." said Oz.

"Without our powers?" asked Rachel.

"Guys, you need to sabotage the thing that's sabotaging us." I grunted into my Digitizer.

I had hopped onto the ladder of the radio tower to chase after Sebastian. When he realized how close behind him I was, he kicked at me blindly and hit my head.

"Of course," said Riley, "Once we do that, there won't be any more interference and we should be able to morph."

I heard the sound of feet hitting the ground. Whatever Sebastian was working for must've just landed.

"Rachel, go find where the jammer is," said Riley, "Oz and I will try to hold him off."

"Marcus?" whispered Rachel, "What does this thing look like?"

"A mass of cables and wires." I groaned back.

I had reached the top of the radio tower now. Sebastian was already waiting for me. I never realized this before, but I'm afraid of heights. I suppose that if I had ever climbed up a radio tower I would've found out sooner.

"You're not looking too good," he said, "If you're afraid, I would be more than happy to help you get back down really quick."

"I'll pass, thanks."

Sebastian went in for an uppercut, but I dodged it. Hoping to trip him so that he would drop my Codec, I tried to do a sweeping kick, which he hopped over. Now we were getting frustrated and went it for an all out fist fight.

"You know for someone who questions my manliness," I said, "You sure hit like a sissy girl."

"Don't let Rachel hear you say that." he moaned as I hit him stomach.

"Yeah, but she hits like a man." I said.

"Sebastian did well luring you here," said the Master, "I was worried you'd see right through him."

"What's this plan of yours?" asked Riley.

"Trojan sent me here to work behind the scenes," said the Master, "My powers allow me to manipulate radio frequencies."

"That can't be the whole plan," said Oz, "It's too simple."

"So, I brainwashed Sebastian in the hopes that he would bring you here," said the Virus, "Since you can't morph here, nothing will be able to stop me to from extending my brainwashing broadcast to the whole city!"

"Don't be so sure!" said Rachel, sounding very proud of herself.

I was distracted by what I heard, because Sebastian recklessly dove at me. I ducked, but he kept going right over the edge of the platform. I really wanted to just let him fall, but after hearing that he wasn't in control of his mind, I couldn't do it.

"Tally ho..." I whimpered.

I took a running start and dove head first after him. I held my arms and legs in tight to cut the wind resistance and before long had caught up to him.

"GIVE ME THE CODEC!" I screamed over the soaring wind.

He glared at me and clutched it tight.

"IF YOU DON'T, WE'LL BOTH DIE!" I screamed.

His eyes grew wide and he let go of my Codec. I caught it as it flew past my hand and quickly re-inserted it into its slot. By the sounds of things, Rachel had found what was blocking our Digitizers. Silently praying to myself that this would work, I proceeded to morph.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!"

In a flash, I had transformed. I reached out for Sebastian's hand and he took it grudgingly. I used it to reposition ourselves. Now, when we landed, I would break both of our falls. Obviously, Rachel had come through. Then I got an idea.

"Download Data Zord!" I called, "Emerald Gorilla!"

Not a moment too soon, it materialized beneath us and held up its massive hands just as Sebastian and I landed them. After catching us, it put us down safely and then headed over to the others. It smacked the ground with immense strength, which sent a shockwave at the Master who had Rachel cornered. The Gorilla's attack distracted it long enough for her to get away. It duties now fulfilled, it pounded its chest happily before disappearing again.

"Now…" said Seb, "De-morph so we can finish our fight!"

Without saying anything, I rushed forwards and knocked him out with one precise blow. Assuming that I did it properly, he'd be out cold until we could destroy the Master.

"Rangers!?" asked Silver, sounding like he was ready to faint at any moment.

"Yes Silver," I said, "We can hear you."

"Whatever was tampering with out signal is gone now," he said, "According to my database, the only virus that could do that is #7R3D2I6O."

"Let me guess, unencrypted it means the Radio Virus?" asked Riley.

"It doesn't seem to be a particularly dangerous virus," said Silver, "Just make sure to ignore its sound based attacks."

"Sounds simple enough." said Oz.

"Ready?" asked Riley.

"Ready!" called the others.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" they shouted together.

Once the others had all morphed, the four of regrouped in front of the Radio Virus. It leered at us, and then clapped its hands together. Rather than emitting an actual clapping noise, it instead emitted an awful noise. It was like nails on a chalkboard, but worse.

The sound pierced through our helmets and assaulted our eardrums. Naturally, we couldn't plug our ears; so all we could do was writhe in agony, doomed to hear that horrid sound forever.

"According to its file," said Silver, sounding distant over top of the sound, "You should be able to cancel out its attacks if you can create a similar sound and use it against him."

"Nothing compares to that!" shrieked Ranger Yellow.

"Obviously, you've never heard bat sonar," said Silver, "It shouldn't be too hard to temporarily reconfigure your weapons to emit a custom noise when you swing them."

"I don't care what you do," shrieked Ranger Blue, "JUST MAKE IT STOP!"

"Come on, guys!" shouted Ranger Red, "We need to focus long enough to summon our weapons!"

"Download weapon!" we called.

"I think I've got it," said Silver, "Try swinging your weapons and see if it works."

I tried first because my spear was the easiest to handle. I spun it around and around, but didn't hear anything. Not even the virus' noise. Wait… That meant it was working. As long as I kept my spear going constantly, the sound didn't affect me anymore.

"It works!" I exclaimed.

The others followed suit and joined in. Now it was basically like a game of tug o' war. The virus was desperate to overpower us, but the more it exerted itself, the faster we spun our weapons to keep our barrier going. It came down to a simple question. Who was collapse first? The virus or us?

"Rangers, form the VR!" shouted Silver, who must have been on the edge of his seat, "The shield's cancellation effect should linger for a while after you stop spinning your weapons."

The virus was too stupid to charge at us. Instead, it just stood there and kept emitting that noise, but our shield protected us well enough for us to combine our weapons into the lethal ballista.

"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.

We each grabbed a handle on the bottom of the VR, and carefully took aim, making sure to use the laser sight that showed us the trajectory.

"Four…" said Ranger Yellow.

"Three…" said Ranger Red.

"Two…" said Ranger Blue.

"One…" I said.

"FIRE!" we shouted together.

With an electronic twanging sort of sound, the VR shot the bolt the minute we said the word. Time appeared to slow down as the digital energy soared right through the Radio Virus. During the bolt's return trip, our vision went back to real-time and we held a triumphant pose as the virus fell backwards and exploded.

Later that night, we brought Sebastian back to headquarters. Silver and Rachel were tending to him as I relived me fight with Sebastian to Riley and Oz.

"The only reason I fought him like that was because I thought he was genuinely evil."

"Him being brainwashed doesn't make it any less impressive." said Riley.

"That's not what I'm worried about," I said, "I'm worried that I let my anger get out of control."

"It could be that that's true," said Silver, coming over to us, "But, I think that the important part to remember is that you didn't overdo it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You didn't keep fighting him after you morphed," he continued, "If you had, poor Sebastian would be in much worse shape than he is now."

"Hopefully, the real Sebastian isn't such a tool." said Rachel.

"What should we do with him?" asked Oz, "He probably still knows our secret."

"I don't think there's anything we can do, Heath," said Silver, "I made a solemn vow to never experiment with memory after my disastrous prototype went haywire."

"Is that why I keep forgetting things when I go in that vault?" asked Oz.

"No," said Rachel, "I think that's just because you think with your fists."

"Aw," said Oz, "What a nice compliment, Rach."

"Don't call me that," she said, "You're not quite there yet."

Sebastian had begun to stir. He gingerly sat up and looked around.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"In a hospital," said Rachel, hurrying over to him, "You hit your head."

"This bed is too comfortable to be a hospital bed!" said Sebastian, who was beginning to panic.

Wordlessly, Rachel pinched him like I did and he lost consciousness again.

"Now he's a whiny know-it-all," she said, "Not much of an improvement."

"Just let him sleep for now," I said, "I'll figure out where he lives later."

I felt that I owed it to myself to meet the real Sebastian. I was also guilty that I jumped to conclusions about him. He wasn't really a manipulative asshole. He was a victim. I was beginning to question whether or not I really deserve my powers. Right now, I didn't feel like someone that a mysterious digital jewel would choose to be a hero. I felt like someone who would be jealous of the people of were chosen instead of me. Maybe I should take some time to think about what Silver said to me when I first given my Codec, because I think I needed a reality check. Until I decided who I was and why I was chosen, my mind would be stuck in the middle of both choices. It would be in a mental No Man's Land…


	9. In Sickness and In Health

Sector 15 Drive-In  
Metro City, Canada  
May 28th, 2015  
11:46 PM

"**Riley Bishop"**

"Head's up!" called Yellow.

He had hit the virus in the back as hard as he could. This resulted in it being sent flying in the air like a golf ball.

"I got it!" called Green, "I got it!"

He leapt up and thrust his spear upwards. He caught the virus shish kabob style.

"Youch!" it wailed.

"What's the matter?" asked Green, "Did I give you a pain in the ass?"

This particular virus was the height of a dwarf, so Green and Yellow were having fun tossing it around.

"Rangers..." said Silver, disapprovingly, "At least try to be professional."

"We are," said Ranger Yellow, "We're jabbing it, um, professionally."

"Remember," said Silver, "It's still a virus, therefore, dangerous."

"Would you rather they put it down so it can demonstrate its power?" I chuckled.

"Touché," he said, "Carry on."

Just then, the virus began to twist its whole upper body in a full circle. Little tiny black dots were released, but we couldn't discern exactly what they were. We weren't all that worried though, considering how small they were.

"Excuse me," squealed the Virus, "I'm shedding."

"A virus with dandruff?" asked Blue, "I don't know whether to laugh or gag."

"Do you mind if I slice and dice it?" I asked.

"Please do." said Ranger Green.

Making sure my sword arm hadn't gone sloppy; I rotated it above my head. Then jogged forward into a small hop, ready to sever the Virus in two. Just before I could go through with it, something went through me. I didn't know what it was, but it caused excruciating pain to radiate out from my chest. The pain lingered in my fingertips, and I dropped my sword in shock.

"Red? Are you okay!?" said Ranger Blue, rushing towards me.

"Yeah, I think so." I said.

What the fuck was that? It must have looked pretty bad to the others, because they were all focused on me.

"What happened?" asked Blue.

"I don't know."

"You screamed." she said.

"It was painful, whatever it was." I said.

"I saw it on your vital chart," said Silver, "I couldn't tell what it was, it happened too fast."

In the confusion, the Virus had escaped. Ranger Green didn't even realize it until he checked his spear afterwards.

"Damn!" he snapped, "The little bastard got away."

"Big deal," said Yellow, "We're each three times its size. How much damage could it possibly do?"

"Guys," I said, "Not to get all high and mighty on you, but I think that's exactly the attitude Silver warned us not to have."

"He's right." said Blue.

There was second surge of pain and I collapsed to my knees. I tried to get back up, but another surge knocked the wind out of me.

I heard the snapping sounds of someone, probably Rachel, take off their helmet. Nobody was around to see, so the rules were not her biggest concern.

"Riley?" she asked, nudging me.

"Blue, ixnay..." said Green.

"Like I care right now!" she snapped.

I don't know what was wrong with me. I could hear what was going on, but didn't have enough strength to move or talk. I was like an unwilling mime trapped in an invisible box.

"Riley!?" she asked, nudging me frantically.

"This is fucked up..." said Yellow.

"Come on," said Ranger Green, "Hold him up and we'll take him to Silver."

I was still fully conscious when we arrived back at headquarters. Not that it really mattered, considering that I appeared to be quite the opposite. I must have de-morphed at some point, but I don't know when. The others were all in civilian form as well, I think.

"Everyone stand back!" hollered Silver, rushing over to take me from Rachel.

He hastily yanked my shirt and glasses off and placed me in the nearest bed.

"What's up?" asked Oz.

"I'm just being careful, Heath," said Silver, "He's running a high fever and for all I know, he could be contagious."

"Then won't you catch it?" asked Marcus.

"No," said Silver, "Whatever this is, it only affects people with the Cyber Gene."

So, he finally found a name for it. Albeit not a very creative name, but a name nonetheless.

"Somebody should call his sister." said Rachel.

My attention faded in and out during the next few hours. I remember my sister coming in and hugging me. I remember hearing her freak out when Silver couldn't explain exactly what was wrong with me. But I don't remember hearing the alarms go off, signaling that there was trouble.

"Riley? Can you hear me?" asked Silver, shortly after I managed to open my eyes.

All I could do easily was nod. So I did.

"I'm trying to diagnose you," he said, "So I need to describe some of your symptoms to me."

I tested my vocal chords. After gaining confidence that they worked well enough to allow speech, I nodded again.

"What was the first thing that happened to you?"

"I... Went in to... Finish off the... Virus and then... From out of nowhere... A surge of pain... I couldn't focus... Dropped my sword... Virus got away..." I said.

"Did the virus do anything right before that happened?" asked Silver.

"Little black dots... It shook and sent them out... In a radius... Virus said it was 'shedding'."

"I believe that what you saw was the Virus' signature move." said Silver.

"But what does that have to do with Riley?" asked Amanda.

"Well," said Silver, "It could be that this is what those black dots do if a person touches them."

"The Cyber Gene..." I said, "You said... Symptoms were... Exclusive to... People with the gene..."

"I said it might be," said Silver, "I'm not a doctor. Why does everyone expect me to know all the answers?"

"If he needs a doctor then why is he still here?" asked Amanda.

"I was just voicing my frustrations," said Silver, "Hospital doctors wouldn't know what's wrong with your son."

"Okay, first of all," said Amanda, "He's my brother, not my son. Second of all, I'll take him anywhere I have to make sure he gets better."

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

"Calm down... You two... Not the time..." I said.

"He's right, obviously," said Silver, "According to him, his symptoms are mysterious surges of pain, sweating and fever."

"That doesn't sound like anything a doctor couldn't treat." said Amanda.

"They could treat the symptoms, yes," said Silver, "But the cause is what's more important."

Rachel teleported back into the headquarters.

"Hi, Amanda..." she said, realizing that her cover was blown.

"Don't worry, Rachel," said Silver, "We knew what having Amanda here would mean from the beginning."

"I had a hunch that you were a ranger anyway," said Rachel, "I wasn't sure about Marcus, and I had never met the tall one."

"You mean Oz?" asked Rachel, "He picked on Riley since Kindergarten."

"Is that who Oz is?"

"Yeah," said Rachel, "Of course, he's tame now, but it's the same guy."

"I see." said Amanda, contemplating.

"How's he doing?" asked Rachel, changing the subject.

I drifted out of reality at her words. I entered a strange mental state wherein I was in two places at once. I could still hear the conversation in headquarters, but then, at the same time, I was flooded by a stream of memories. It was confusing, because I had to decide which I wanted to focus on primarily. In the end, I settled on the memories.

"You're going to look so good in this suit," said Amanda, sniffling, "Mom and Dad would be proud."

"Are we going to meet them at the funeral?" I asked.

I would never forget this day. It was the day of our parent's funeral. I didn't understand that they were dead, so, I kept trying to figure out where they were. Amanda didn't bother to break my spirit because she knew that I would catch on eventually.

"Do I have to wear the tie?" I asked, "It's tight and itchy."

"Just think of how handsome you're going to look for Rachel."

"She's my friend," I said, "She doesn't care whether or not I wear a tie."

There was a flash and then seconds later about two hours had passed. Now I was standing at the edge of my parent's freshly dug grave. As I peered down into it, I remember how miserable I was until Rachel showed up and grabbed my hand.

"Where did they go?" I asked her.

"I don't know," she said, "Away, I guess."

"It doesn't make any sense..." I said, holding back my tears.

"Not everything does." she said.

"How is that fair?" I asked, "What good is being smart if there are still things that don't make sense?"

"I think this is one of those things that we just have to accept." she said.

"Well, you're not going anywhere, are you?" I asked.

"Of course not," said Rachel, "We wouldn't know what to do without each other."

She held my hand more tightly. The tears that I had been holding back broke free and overtook me. It didn't bother Rachel though, in fact, it seemed like she had expected nothing less from me.

Another surge of pain yanked me back into reality. I must have screamed again, because Amanda was pleading with Silver.

"Can't you give him something for the pain?" she said, "Morphine, Demerol, Oxycodone, anything!"

"You need a prescription to get those," said Silver, "Which no doctor would prescribe without understanding the source of the pain first."

"I don't think this is a disease," said Rachel, rubbing my chest, "Look..."

I concentrated hard and managed to focus my eyes on the spot where she was pointing. My veins were clearly visible through my skin, but, they were square. My veins looked exactly like Trojan's.

"What's… Wrong... With me?" I panted.

"I take it that's a bad thing?" asked Amanda.

"**Amanda Bishop"**

Silver called all the rangers back after he saw Riley's veins. I didn't say anything, because I knew that even though I didn't make any sense to me now, that it would once he elaborated a bit.

"I think I know what's wrong with him." said Silver, simply.

They waited.

"The integrity of his molecular structure is failing."

Well, so much making sense after some explanations.

"If I can't figure out how to stop it," he continued, "Riley will turn into data, just like how my machine turned Trojan into data."

"But, he'll be okay, won't he?" asked Oz.

"The only reason Trojan survived my machine was because he changed while on route to Cyberspace," said Silver, "That's not the case for Riley though, I'm afraid."

"Do you mean to say... That he'll die?" moaned Rachel.

"Yes."

"How... Long?" asked Riley.

"Less than 24 hours."

"So, what do we do?" asked Marcus.

"The virus..." said Riley, "Get rid... Of the virus."

"What about you?" asked Oz.

"I was... Fine... Until we... Fought... That virus," said Riley, "Maybe... It did this... To me?"

"Black dots..." muttered Silver, rushing over to his computer.

"What black dots?" I asked.

"Riley said that the virus shed little black dots," he said, "If one of those touched him, then all I have to do to cure him is find it."

"Almost sounds like a tick," I said, "You know, if they could turn people into data."

Silver finally stopped typing and threw his hands up in triumph.

"It's #6C5P0U2X," he said, "The CPU Virus."

"That explains why it's so small." said Marcus.

"It sheds microscopic computer chips that will leech onto anyone in the vicinity. Once attached to a host, they overwrite the person's humanity with data," said Silver, "But, I think that in Riley's case, the process was accelerated because of his Cyber Gene."

"Don't go… It's too risky." said Riley.

"Not it if I reprogram your suits," said Silver, "I should be able to temporarily reverse the polarity of their electromagnetic frequencies."

"Can you please speak English, Silver?" I asked.

"I am speaking English!" snapped Silver, "Just because you don't understand me, doesn't mean I'm not speaking English!"

"Don't feel bad," said Marcus, "We all used to say that too."

"I stopped trying to understand his geek-speak after the first month." said Oz.

"Basically," elaborated Silver, "Your suits will repel the computer chips."

Deafening sirens went off and all the monitors on Silver's computer were now showing surveillance footage of the CPU Virus.

"That's our cue," said Rachel, "Hang in there, okay?"

Riley gasped in pain again, but nevertheless managed to give her the thumbs up.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Ready." said the others.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" they shouted together.

In the blink of an eye, their suits had appeared out of thin air. From their "V" formation, they pushed and held two buttons on their wrist gadgets. After several seconds, they had transformed into beams of light, which soared up through the ceiling.

Silver never left his computer. He had picked up an elaborate headset and placed it on his head.

"Rangers," he said, "Even without Riley, you should still be able to summon the VR."

I couldn't hear their response, but Silver must have.

"The damage output will be considerably lower," he said, "But, based on the size of the Virus, it should still be strong enough."

"Ranger Yellow," he continued, "I want you to hold both of the rear handles."

Since Silver seemed to have everything under control, I turned my attention back to Riley. His eyes were wide open and moving all over the place. I think they were bloodshot because of the pain.

"**Riley Bishop"**

I felt myself get yanked back into the confines of my memories. The first time I chose to see them, but this time, something chose for me. It was almost as if I was losing control of my mind. From the looks of it, my next stop was the first day of junior high; that's the day Rachel and I first met Marcus.

I remember stepping off the bus and being tripped by Oz.

"Loser!" he snapped.

Rachel came down after me. While getting back to my feet, I heard a surprised shriek, followed by a weak grunt. If I had to guess, Oz had pinched Rachel's butt when she went past him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, rejoining me.

"Yeah, I stopped my fall with my hands." I said.

"Good," she said, "You wouldn't want to break your new glasses."

"Yeah…" I said, "We wouldn't want that."

"Will you give it a rest?" asked Rachel, "They look fine."

"That optometrist is a quack," I said, "My eyes work perfectly."

Wham!

"You were saying?"

I had just walked into a stop sign.

"I meant to do that."

Off to the side, I could hear someone cat calling.

"Hey baby," he said, "You need someone to walk you to class?"

"I think he's talking to you…" I muttered under my breath.

"Maybe he's gay?" muttered Rachel.

"Ask him yourself," I said, "He's coming this way."

"Oh sure," jeered Rachel, "You can see him, but not a stop sign?"

"Blame the eye doctor," I said, "He's the one that claimed I needed glasses."

The cat caller had arrived. He walked with a ridiculous forced swagger.

"So," he asked, "Shall we?"

"She doesn't talk to strangers." I said.

"Well, I'm Marcus," he said, "Marcus Reynolds; now I'm not a stranger…"

"I'm Rachel," she said, "And this is Riley, my official escort."

"He walked into a stop sign," said Marcus, "I think he lacks credentials."

"Alright then," I said, extending my hand, "We'll both escort her."

He took my hand a shook it, causing me to yelp with shock as my whole arm received a sudden jolt. Rachel smirked as she restrained herself from laughing along with Marcus.

After the sensation wore off, Marcus held up his hand to reveal a concealed joy buzzer.

From that moment on, our duo became a trio. Although nowadays, Marcus and I aren't competing for Rachel's attention anymore.

"EUREKA!" exclaimed Silver, ecstatically.

His outburst pulled me back into the present with a lurch. My vision was blurry, but I could kind of make out the outline of Silver and Amanda.

"You found it!?" squealed Amanda.

"Yes," he said, "It's embedded itself into his scalp… Right there..."

His voice trailed off. I knew he hadn't stopped talking, but I was sort of weaving in and out of reality. It got to the point where I couldn't tell what was what anymore.

"I bet I can analyze the chip without even removing it from his head."

"Watch where you're walking, you klutzy douchebag!"

"What good is being smart if there are still things that don't make sense?"

"You are noble and selfless, so, I choose you to be the Red Cyberspace Ranger."

"Because she's my friend… Because I know that I can help her."

"That thing has weaved wires through his entire central nervous system."

"There's nothing I can do…"

"Riley…"

"Wake up…"

"I know you can hear me…"

"Come back… Please…"

"You can't do this to me…"

"I love you…"

I felt something warm being pressed against my lips. If I didn't know any better, I would say it was… Another pair of lips. They smelled and tasted like vanilla… Rachel?

The warmth began to spread through my entire body now. I didn't even realize how cold I was. I was firmly anchored in reality now. I had heard so many voices. To me, it all felt like a dream. Who had said they loved me? I had been delirious up until now. If that last part was real, whoever said it would be aware of it when I woke up.

The warmth lingered long after the vanilla taste and scent left. Curious to learn how many of the things I heard were real, I managed to open my eyes. It didn't hurt. The pain was gone.

The minute I had begun to sit up, someone threw their arms around me. The smell of vanilla came back, only now it was mixed in with hair products.

"What's up, Rach?" I asked.

She refused to let go of me, so her voice came out muffled.

"I thought I lost you…" she sobbed.

"I've been right here," I said, "Haven't I?"

"Riley…" she said, "You were dead."

I broke free from her and leapt to me feet. I felt good. In fact, I felt fantastic.

"Well, if that's true," I said, "You brought me back."

"Hey!" snapped Oz, "What about us?"

"We helped too," said Marcus, "But only she kissed you."

"Really?" I said.

"I told you Marcus; that was mouth to mouth." she said.

"Call it whatever you want," he said, "You still locked lips."

"Since when is saying 'I love you' part of mouth to mouth?" asked Oz.

"Of course I love him," she said, blushing, "Like a brother or a pet."

I grinned at her, but, upon seeing how anxious she looked, I helped her out.

"I didn't kiss back," I said, "That makes it mouth to mouth."

Obviously, Rachel only did what she did because she thought I was dead. I could tell that even though what she said was true, she wasn't ready for the others to know yet. Sure, she kissed me, but she had no intention of us being a couple. At least, not yet.

"She also loves you two as well," I said, "Like, um, cousins."

"Yeah." said Rachel, showing her appreciation with a smile.

Amanda came back and hugged me even tighter than Rachel had.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" she sobbed.

"You make it sound like I died on purpose." I wheezed.

"Technically you were in a vegetative state," said Silver, "Your vitals plummeted and stayed down even after the CPU Virus was destroyed."

"And all the computer chips went with it?" I asked.

"Damn straight." said Oz.

"Don't bother thanking us," said Marcus, "We're a team of friends who would do anything for each other."

"Took the words right out of my mouth." I chuckled.

"You know," said Oz, "I think I feel a song coming on…"

"Me too." said Marcus.

"Rachel and Riley, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" they chanted.

I couldn't see what Rachel did to them, but if I had to guess, I would say she glared at them. She could glare like no one else. She had like, fifty different ones depending on the situation. This time it seemed like she used her most menacing one, because both Oz and Marcus cowered.

"Oh shit…" said Marcus.

"That's the same look my Mom had when she turned forty!" whimpered Oz.

At least now I knew that Rachel had probably felt the same way about me as I did about her. She might not be ready to express her feelings openly yet, but the fact that she even had feelings was all the reassurance I needed.

I just hope I won't have to enter a vegetative state every time I want her to show her feelings. Because that would be a major deal breaker…


	10. Road Rage

Sector 10, Metro City Mega Mall  
Metro City, Canada  
May 30th, 2015  
1:00 PM

"**Rachel Parker"**

"It's been so long since we've gone shopping." said Chloe Baldwin, my BFF.

Before you start to get confused, I'll explain. Riley is my closest and oldest friend. But, Chloe is the one that I do all the girly stuff with. By girly, I mean anything that Riley hates doing.

Chloe was the pretty one out of the two of us. She had shiny, blonde hair and the body of a supermodel. We're both athletic and flexible, but only I'm in gymnastics. She's flexible in a more risqué kind of way. You know, she's um… Oh, screw it; she's a bit of a slut. I assume you understand what I mean when I say she's a different kind of flexible…

Sometimes her ditziness makes me question why I even bother to be friends with her. A few examples of her quirks are: She still dots her i's with hearts or smiley faces. She is obsessed with stuffed animals and talks to them like they can hear her. She's a picky eater because of much worried she about her figure. I know for a fact that she can eat whatever she wants and would never gain a single pound, but she doesn't care. It makes it hard to go out to eat with her. She is a glitter fanatic, so hugging her usually results in you getting some stuck on you. Lastly, I always go home with a sore neck because of how many times she makes crane it to check out some hot guys. I'll admit; she does have good taste, but only on the outside. Every guy she's ever gone out with would make Oz look like Einstein. I'm sure you already know what kind of guy I like.

"It's kind of waiting until you're really hungry before eating," I said, "By then everything tastes so much better."

"Not for me," she said, "I like to shop because I like to shop. Enjoying the thrill is just a… Nice piece of ass…"

"What!?"

"Check him out…" she said, steering my neck.

"We already checked him out," I said, "He's the one that walked past us while we getting our mani-pedis."

"Well he seems even yummier now."

"Then why don't you go bend over next to him or something?" I asked.

"Whoa, Rachel!" she said, "What do you think I am, the city bimbo?"

Not quite, but if she kept going at a steady pace, maybe she'd get there eventually.

"Sorry," I said, "But I thought the whole point of you buying those new short shorts was to show off for the guys."

"It is," she said, "But if I bend over just to do it, he'll get the wrong idea."

She made no sense. That wrong idea is exactly what she wanted. She wanted him to double back and spank her in public, bring her over to his expensive convertible and then drive to Hawaii with him where they would have endless kinky adventures. I might be wrong about Hawaii, but everything else is spot on.

"You know what?" I said, "He's too old for you anyways."

"Rachel, how many times do I have to tell you?" she asked, "There's no such thing as too old, only too young."

"Fine," I said, "Then you're too young for him."

At least when we went shopping together, she paid for her own stuff. I don't know where her parents are, but I think they're the kind of people who are endlessly rich for no particular reason. The sort of people that have their own reality TV shows. As far as I know, she lives with the family butler and her Grandma.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she said, "So, um, now what should we do?"

She was a real firecracker. It was Saturday, but yet, instead of taking it easy and relaxing she wanted to go everywhere in one day. I used to love doing that sort of thing with her until I became a ranger. Now, I was afraid to do much of anything, other than school. I knew from experience that Trojan's viruses could literally come out of anywhere. My biggest fear is that I would have to morph in front of her and blow my secret.

"Why don't we go to beach?" I asked, "After all, we did buy new swimsuits."

"You know me so well," she said, excitedly, "Come on, we can change in bathroom!"

"Why do we have to change?" I asked, as she dragged me.

"It's always best to wear skimpy clothes over swimsuits." She said.

Sometimes it's just easier to go with the flow.

For the most part, I'm not insecure about my body. I know I'm not ugly, but sometimes I feel like I am when I go around with Chloe. It's hard to tell exactly which one of us was getting checked out more. Not that it really mattered to me, but I guess it would just be interesting to know. For example, we were wearing the exact same thing right now, but I just shake the feeling that Chloe was wearing it better. Another thing is that she is a masterful flirter. I can't flirt. I know when I'm being flirted with, but usually I don't play along because I'm only interested in one person. She's tried to teach me throughout the years, but I'm just a slow learner. For the most part, I just copy her and say something different.

Chloe has the girliest car ever: a Buggy. I shouldn't really talk though, because all I have is a bike. Her car is this ugly shade of yellow. She claims its gold, but to me, it looks more like mustard. I wonder what people in cars that pass it must say. Weird, mustardy-yellow punch buggy, maybe?

Sector 10 was considered to be the fashion district. There was a bit of residential areas in it as well, but it primarily contained photography, clothing and cosmetics stores or businesses. I think Riley's sister works here.

The best beach was in Sector 20. There was even a beach boardwalk and carnival. It was a long drive to the beach, but it would be worth it for a little bit of fun in the sun.

"You should wear that shirt all the time," said Chloe, "It makes you look chestier."

No, I looked chestier than her because I am chestier than her. Chloe used to stuff her bra until she filled out a bit more. I remember it quite well, considering that it's one of my fondest memories. I keep it in reserve in case we fight. To most people, it wouldn't be a good comeback, but it is to Chloe. Every time I say, "Well, I've got bigger boobs than you!" she gets all teary and surrenders. Then, she'll want to do that stupid fucking air-hug thing.

"Even in winter?" I asked.

"Especially in winter," she said, "That's when your nipples stay perky."

"What if I catch a cold?" I asked.

"Then you can snuggle up to any guys that were attracted to you."

"I never thought of it that way," I said, "Does it also work if you sweat enough to make your tank top see-through?"

"Yeah, but, then you'd want to go skinny dipping afterwards to cool off," she said, "You should join my petition to lift the ban on tank tops at school."

"Sure." I said.

Hanging out with Chloe was interesting because I didn't have to worry about anything. I could unwind and just have some genuine fun. I can't remember the first last time Riley and I did something stupid just to have a good laugh. They both provide two very different types of companionship. If I didn't have one, I would miss the other.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you've been so busy lately?" she asked.

"Well, you know, I'm um, hoping to go to Queen's University to earn my medical degree," I said, "So, I've been arranging meetings and tours. Then I started taking two biology courses to make my applications more appealing."

"Fine," said Chloe, "If you don't want to tell me, I'll figure it out for myself."

That's one of her more serious quirks. She hates when people keep secrets from her. The only way to counter it is by being careful. As long as she doesn't suspect anything, she's fine.

What she said haunted me a little. She can be pretty devious sometimes. Come Christmas time, I have to hide her presents at Riley's house. She never finds them because it doesn't occur to her to look anywhere other than my house. Maybe I should just tell her. Keeping it a secret from her is what she'd be angry about. But once she knew, maybe it would make her see me in a new way and our friendship would change for the better.

Or, maybe her jealousy and anger would build up to a dangerous level and result in an emotional meltdown. Either way, she'd manage to make it seem like my fault. So, either I lose a friend or I live in guilt. Why does there never seem to be a middle ground?

While we were on the overpass, something rocketed past us. I wove in and out of the traffic with ease, but the drivers all swerved instinctively. If they hadn't, nothing would've happened, but there was no way for them to know that. Almost like a domino chain, the cars began to crash into each other and pile up.

"Holy shit!" shrieked Chloe.

Whatever had caused the accident was rocketing back in the opposite direction. By the looks of things, we were its next target. Thinking fast, I grabbed the anti-theft club from the backseat and swung it as hard as I could. The passenger side window shattered, leaving a hole large enough for us to fit through.

"Give me your hand!" I shouted.

She didn't move.

"Chloe, come on!"

She was in shock. Any second now, that thing was going to crash into the car. Not if I had any say in the matter. I rolled out of the window, taking my purse with me. Not wasting any time, I sprinted forward, pulled my Digitizer out, strapped it on my wrist and proceeded to morph without ever slowing down.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I shouted.

I have no idea how many people saw me, nor did I care. That thing, whatever it was, had just used a vehicle in the wreckage as a ramp. I jumped high into the air and summoned my weapons. As we approached each other in midair, time seemed to slow down. It was enough for me to get a decent look at it. It was a motorcycle, or, at least, it something that could assume the basic shape of one.

I swung my sais, aiming at the tires, but much to my surprise, a hand reached out from the motorcycle and grabbed me. During the descent, it transformed into a more or less humanoid shape and kicked me away.

"See you around, sweet cheeks!" it growled.

I hit the pavement hard and bounced several times, finally coming to a stop by Chloe's car. As I came to, I could hear Silver's voice coming from out of my Digitizer and he didn't sound too happy.

"Ranger Blue!?" snapped Silver, "Where have you been!?"

"I was shopping, Silver," I moaned, "I was trying to have a day-off with a friend."

"I've been trying to contact you for hours," he said, "The others have their hands full with an army of Replicators."

"Well, I found a virus," I said, "It caused a huge accident on the overpass."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that you shirked your ranger duties." he said.

"Scold me later," I pleaded, "I need reinforcements!"

"I'm sorry Blue," said Silver, "But until the Replicators have been dealt with, you're on your own."

"All this time…" said a voice from behind me.

I whipped around and saw Chloe standing there with her arms crossed.

"You've been a Power Ranger all this time!?" she said.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, "You know I can keep a secret."

She tricked me. She hadn't been in shock at all; she just pretended to be to see what I'd do. I actually risked my neck to save her, jumping in to fight the Virus, because I thought she was a victim. This was the last straw. She had gone too far. Her obsessive need to control her friend's lives made her do some pretty awful things before, but now it was time to take a stand.

"I know it might be hard to believe," I said, "But the world does not revolve around you!" I snarled.

"I tell you everything," she retorted, "I respect you enough not to keep any secrets from you, because I don't think friends should have secrets!"

"You have no idea how ridiculous you sound right now," I snapped, "For example, secretly, I think you're a bit of a slut!"

"How could you say that!?" sobbed Chloe.

"Exactly," I snapped, "Until now, I kept my opinion a SECRET, because I knew it would hurt your feelings!"

"Rachel…" she began.

"No, I'm not done," I continued, "You act like a spoiled diva that has a right to know absolutely everything about everyone as if you're entitled to it and it drives me crazy!"

"Rachel!" she repeated.

"And for the record," I went on, "I could make a ten page list full of many secrets you've kept from me!"

"BEHIND YOU!" she screamed.

By the time I turned around, it was too late. The Virus had come back for more and kicked me in the head. Chloe had been trying to warn me. I was sent flying again; over Chloe and about three cars. I landed on the roof of the third one, denting it from the impact.

"Go kick it's ass, Blue Ranger!" cheered the Driver.

I leapt up to my feet and gasped as some sort of rubber ball came hurtling at me. I caught it like a medicine ball and examined it.

"It's a bomb…" I muttered.

The Motorcycle Virus had thrown a bomb about the size of a basketball at me. The whole thing was made out of rubber and looked like he melted tires together to create it. Somehow, the tires kept their treads through the melting process though.

"Chloe, get over here, I need your help!"

Apparently, she was still in argument mode, because instead of actually answering me, she just stuck her tongue out at me like a toddler.

"This thing is a BOMB!" I called, "We need to evacuate the bridge!"

Her eyes went wide. She reached into her bag of clothes and threw on something less revealing. One of her overlooked talents was changing. She can switch outfits about as fast as morphing looks to the casual observer.

Chloe hurried over, vaulting over cars, debris and wreckage adeptly. She a cheerleader and gold medal track and field competitor, but you wouldn't know it based on her personality.

"Please tell me you still have your rape whistle." I said.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked, "Grandma never lets me leave home without it."

She pulled it out from her cleavage and gave three sharp blasts on it. I had to stop myself from getting distracted. I almost starting wondering about what else she kept it in there.

"Okay people!" she announced, "It's time to move it or lose it!"

"Everyone, please follow her in a single file line!" I announced as well.

"What are you going to do?" asked Chloe, as she passed me.

"Kick this thing's ass." I said.

The civilians all followed Chloe obediently. Now I understood why she changed clothes first. She didn't want to look like a skank while doing the most heroic thing in her life. Plus, her daisy dukes would've been very distracting to any guys in the line.

"Silver," I said, "What can you tell me about this virus?"

"The Motorcycle Virus is #3M7T1R9C8L and it can reach speeds of up to 250 kph in vehicle form," said Silver, "When accelerating, it can see in slow motion. If it gains enough speed and momentum, it becomes an unstoppable force."

"Does it have any weaknesses?"

"Not according to my database," he said, "But if you attack its tires, you might be able to cripple it."

"That's easier said than done." I sighed.

The timer on the bomb had five minutes left. I could see that Chloe was making progress. I think the police had showed up, because there were siren lights flashing in the distance.

I was hit from behind again as the virus. Before I could even stand up it tackled me again. This went on for quite a while. Every time I tried to react, it would beat me to it. It was too fast for me and that's saying something, considering that I'm the fastest member of the team.

I heard the Motorcycle Virus' engine rev again as it used another wrecked car as a ramp. I looked up, expecting to see it above me. That's when I realized that the noise was coming from Chloe. She was riding a motorcycle too and leapt in from behind.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"I flashed my bra at the cops," she said, "They really should have more gay officers."

"See?" I said, "This is why I used to think you were a little slutty."

"So, you don't anymore?"

"No," I said, "You're more of a free spirit than anything."

"Apology accepted," said Chloe, "Now climb aboard."

"I hate copycats!" grunted the virus, skidding to halt in front of us.

It began to circle us. As if we had just become a motocross track. Smoke from the exhaust and the fumes from the burning of rubber had started to fill the air. We were completely trapped. Even if Chloe tried to drive out, it would only result in a crash.

"That thing is really starting to piss me off!" snarled Chloe, "He ruined our day at the beach, caused an accident, hurt all those people, including us and ruined my heroic rescue of you!"

"Yeah, and now you that your plan failed you flashed the cops for no reason." I said.

"You're not helping!" she snapped.

Just then, something started beeping. It got louder and louder. Our five minutes were up and the bomb would explode at any second. I scooped up Chloe and tossed over the circling virus to safety.

"No, don't!" she pleaded.

I placed myself on top of the bomb. My only choice was to try and muffle it. If I'm lucky, my suit will protect me from most of the explosion.

With one final beep, the bomb detonated. I was relieved that it hurt, because that meant I was alive to feel it. The explosion was loud enough to make my earwax vibrate through my helmet. Once everything subsided, I found myself hanging on to a rebar which became exposed when the bomb blew a giant, gaping hole in the overpass.

Luckily, my adrenaline was surging, so the fact that I would fall roughly 15-stories if I lost my grip was thankfully not lingering in my mind at the moment.

"How's it going, Blue Ranger?" taunted the Motorcycle Virus from across the chasm, "Are you hanging in there?"

Not surprisingly, I had de-morphed. I could tell right away that my leg was broken. Cyber Gene or not, it would still take quite a while for it to heal. Even if I managed to get back up on the overpass, I wouldn't be able to fight the virus.

As the ringing in my ears started to go away, I could Chloe calling my name frantically.

"Rachel!" she sobbed from above.

"I'm right here!" I croaked back.

Her head appeared when she peeked down into the chasm.

"You're alive…" she muttered while reaching down for me absent-mindedly.

Unfortunately, Chloe didn't know that I had broken my leg. When it accidentally got caught on the rebar I had been holding on to, I wailed in agony. This startled Chloe, who almost lost her grip on my hand. Once we were both back on solid ground, I tried to limp to my feet.

"I'm so sorry," sobbed Chloe, "This is all my fault!"

"No it's not," I said, gritting my teeth through the pain, "I called you selfish earlier, but… I probably would've done exactly the same thing as you were I in your position."

"But if I hadn't been so jealous and attention seeking none of this would've happened!"

"Don't worry about it," I said, "You've already righted those wrongs by helping me."

"I just wish I could do more…"

One last teardrop trickled down from her face and splattered on the ground. I could've sworn that it had glowed, but, then again, I might've just been hallucinating because of the pain.

From the very spot that Chloe's tear had landed, a small pillar of binary had appeared, almost like how a geyser erupts.

"Chloe… Look!" I said.

"What is it?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

I was witnessing the birth of a new Morph Codec. Even though I had never seen that before, somehow I just knew what I was seeing. Like, if you see grown men in jerseys on ice, you immediately know you're watching a hockey game.

The binary was bright orange, like a roaring fire. It wasn't that hard to believe. After all, Silver did say that people with the Cyber Gene tend to stick together instinctively.

"It's called a Morph Codec," I said, "It's what we use to become Power Rangers."

I think she must've felt a sense of belonging or ownership towards the Codec, because as soon as I told her what it was, Chloe reached out and touched the binary geyser.

"It's warm," she said, "The same temperature that I make my showers."

With her hand inside the stream, the binary flowed up and reconfigured itself into a physical form. Chloe pulled her hand away and curiously examined the orange gem that was now glowing brightly in her palm.

Wordlessly, I unscrewed the case that held my Codec into place on my Digitizer and took it out.

"Here," I said, handing my Digitizer to Chloe, "Once you put it in the socket, you'll instantly know how to use it."

Looking uncharacteristically determined, she nodded and took the Digitizer from me. I watched her intently as she carefully placed her Codec into place and screwed the case back on.

She shuddered when the Codec exploded with light. The brightness stayed contained in the case just like how ours did.

Now I nodded at her and gave her the thumbs up again.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" shouted Chloe.

The Digitizer sent out a familiar swirling tornado of binary. It kept swirling faster and faster becoming more and more, narrow as it did so until it collided with Chloe in a small explosion. Now she was wearing the exact same suit as me, only hers was a fiery, vibrant orange. After leaping high into the air, she landed on the ground with an orange helmet on her head.

I cheered and whooped as she examined herself. Giving her my Digitizer was a longshot and I didn't know if it would even work. Obviously, it did.

"Wow!" she said, "I feel like I could win a triathlon!"

She swooped down and picked me up, making sure to be gentle so as not to hurt my leg again.

"Rachel," said Orange, "I have a very serious question for you."

"What?"

"Does this suit make me look fat?"

"Nope," I grinned, "Just orange."

"I can live with that." she said.

I scoured the other side of the chasm, but couldn't see the Motorcycle Virus.

"It's not gone," I said, "I'll bet it went to gain speed."

"Whatever that thing is doesn't know when to quit." said Ranger Orange.

"Do you know how to summon your weapon?" I asked.

"I think so." said Orange.

She thrust her hand out and said the usual callout. I was inappropriately excited to see what her weapon would be.

The orange binary materialized into what looked like a spiked bowling ball on a stick. Great, I don't even know what it is. I had been expecting a cannon shaped like a hairdryer or something, but not whatever that thing is.

Orange squeezed the handle and with a thud, the spiked ball fell to the ground, revealing that it was attached to a chain. Now I knew what it was; a flail.

There was the roar of an engine again as the Motorcycle Virus reemerged on the other side of the chasm.

"Attack it, now!" I hollered.

Ranger Orange swung her flail above her head like a lasso before raising it high over her head. The spiked ball was now touching the pavement. Emulating the action of a strength test at a carnival, she slammed the flail down just as the Motorcycle Virus came into reach. The impact sent it plummeting down the chasm that it created with a bomb. We watched it hurtle down 15-stories and explode when it landed with a metallic crunch on the street below.

There was a pause while we contemplated what we had just witnessed.

"It's dead, right?" asked Orange.

"Oh yeah…" I said.

Just then, three streaks of binary code descended upon us. The others must've dealt with the Replicator invasion. I didn't care that they were late for the party. I was just glad that they actually showed up.

"Sorry it took so long!" panted Riley, "There was hundreds of the damn things."

"I had the most kills." said Oz.

"Yeah, because you kept stealing them from me!" snapped Marcus.

"Are you okay, Rachel?" asked Riley.

"For the most part," I said, "My leg might be broken though."

"So, where's the virus?" asked Marcus.

"You just missed it," said Ranger Orange, "I nailed it in the head with my flail and it fell down that hole!"

"Wait a second," said Riley, "Rachel, if you're there, then who's that?"

"Power down." said Orange.

The others gaped at her. Of all the people in the world to become a ranger, Chloe, my "slutty" friend was probably the one the most unlikely candidate. This was evidenced by the looks on their faces.

"Hi." she said, shrugging her shoulders innocently.


	11. New Girl

Sector 0, Headquarters  
Metro City, Canada  
May 30th, 2015  
3:47 PM

"**Chloe Baldwin"**

Today featured a lot of firsts for me. It was the day I first morphed. It was the day I teleported for the first time. It was also the first time I didn't care about shopping and teasing the football players. Something had happened to me that was making me a better person. Call me crazy, but I kind of liked it.

The only reason the other rangers were surprised to see me is because they weren't there to witness any of my heroic actions that led up to the discovery of my Codec. Once they see that I've changed, maybe they'll accept me?

"Do you think Silver already knows about this?" asked Marcus.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he did," said Riley, "He's usually always in the loop."

"Will somebody please explain what's going on?" I asked.

"We're taking you to meet Silver," said Rachel, "He's the mastermind behind this whole thing."

"This guy is a technological genius, right?" I asked.

"Among other things, yeah." said Marcus.

"What kind of name is that for rich nerd?" I asked, "Not Isaac, Nigel or Bartleby, but Silver?"

"Why should he conform to stereotypes?" asked Oz defensively, "Did I use that word, right, Riley?"

"Yeah, good job." he said.

"His full name is Stephen Silverstone," said Rachel, "Silver for short."

"If you say so…" I said.

We had stopped on the doorstep of a giant mansion. I was grateful that I'm not one of those girls that gets turned on by big houses. I would hate to marry someone for something as irrelevant as the size of their house. For example, Silver is probably old enough to be my father, but some girls would still jump his bones because of his mansion.

I love to flirt and be a tease because that's fun for me. I also know how to use my body to get what I want. Rachel thought that made me slutty, but only because she doesn't approve of doing what I do. Besides, I can't be a slut because I don't sleep around.

Rather than ringing the doorbell or knocking, the others simply stood there. I was about to speak up again when the floor opened up into some sort of slide that we all fell into. So, there's another first for you. Before today, I only ever slid down slides in playgrounds.

When we landed, a man in a black suit with a silver tie was waiting for us.

"I take it you're Silver?" I asked.

"And you would be Chloe." he said.

Riley and Marcus wasted no time in helping Rachel walk over to the couch. Once she got there, she collapsed into, wincing from the pain in her leg. After that, they returned to stand behind me.

"What happened up on that bridge needs to be addressed immediately." said Silver.

He sounded like a parent about to ground a child. Did I maybe do something wrong or break some sort of Power Ranger rule without realizing it?

"Are you interested in becoming a full-time ranger?"

I don't think I realized just how big of a decision this was going to be. So, when he asked me, it caught me off guard and stunned me. True, the whole point of me coming here was to join the rangers, but do I really want to? I'd be giving up so much. Rachel did, but she's a different kind of person than I am. As I thought about it, I remembered that the changes in my personality were probably linked to me being a ranger. So, either I stay the same, or I let go of my ditziness and material obsessions.

"Yes." I said.

"Good," he said, "Then I'll need to borrow your Codec."

I was a little apprehensive about giving it to him, but got it over it quickly and handed it to him.

"What I'm doing..." began Silver, heading over to the console and typing furiously, "Is programming your Codec to include everything you'll need."

"Such as?"

"Well, first and foremost he adds it to his computer so that he can track you and communicate with you from anywhere within range of his broadcast." said Riley.

"Next he adds a packet of information that will be uploaded into your brain the next time you morph." said Marcus.

"And lastly," said Silver, "I have to make a new Digitizer for you."

"What about her Data Zord, Silver?" asked Rachel from the couch.

"It should already be in her Codec," he said, "Yours were, so I don't see why hers wouldn't be."

"I get a Zord!?" I asked.

"Of course," said Oz, "And I'm guessing yours will be a pretty unicorn."

"You obviously don't know me," I said, "If you did, you wouldn't assume like that..."

"Sorry, sweetie," said Rachel, "They all think you're just a dumb kinky blonde."

Well, I am that, but not the kind they think. To be honest, horses scare me. I used to think I loved them because of how pretty and majestic they were, until my Daddy actually bought me one which was spunky and rebellious. The first time I tried to ride him, he bucked me off and I almost broke my neck. I've been afraid of them ever since. I really hope I get to choose my Zord; horses are bad enough, but one with a horn would be even worse.

As I reminisced, large, vintage sounding sirens began to blare.

"Dumb kinky blonde or not," said Riley, "You're a ranger now, Chloe."

"Show us who you really are," said Marcus, "Let us see the person that the Codec saw."

"Cause it's party time!" hollered Oz.

"Are you well enough to join us, Rach?" I asked.

"I doubt it," she said, "Don't worry, you'll do fine."

"95... 96... 97... 98... 99... 100!" muttered Silver, loudly, "Alright, Chloe, your Digitizer should be ready to go."

He indicated with his hands where to look for it and I followed the instructions. Silver had been pointing to a device that I thought looked like a silver platter, complete with the domed lid.

I lifted the lid away and saw that a Digitizer was now being displayed. Underneath the lid was a sort of tunnel, which had a shutter that appeared to have closed, leaving the Digitizer on top.

"Whatever I invent gets sent out through this chute, and pops up into the air. Then, the shutter closes behind it." said Silver.

"Neat..." I said, taking it.

"Your Codec will already be inserted in the Digitizer," said Silver, "Now, go join the others and put it to good use."

The others were beckoning me to join them in their formation. As I made my way over to them, I securely fastened my Digitizer around my wrist.

"Ready?" asked Riley.

"Ready!" said Marcus and Oz.

They paused, noticing that I hadn't said anything.

"She's only ever morphed solo," said Rachel, "She'll catch on eventually."

"Ready?" asked Riley again.

"Ready!" I piped in with the others.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" we shouted in unison.

My hand gestures were a little sloppy, but, at least I morphed on cue this time. Now that we were fully clad in our suits, Silver pointed to his monitors.

"Be careful out there," he said, "The energy levels on this one are rather high."

"Where are we headed?" asked Green.

"According to this, there are four Viruses," said Silver, "I'm picking up signals in Sectors 4, 8, 12 and 16."

"Then each of us will go to a Sector and look for the Virus," said Ranger Red, "Yellow, you take 12, Green, you take 4 and Orange, you take 8."

"Whoever finds it should call the others immediately," said Silver, "I don't want anyone fighting without backup against a Virus this strong."

"Alright," said Red, "Let's move out!"

They all pressed and held the two smallest buttons on their Digitizers, which I now knew would make us teleport to whatever location we thought about. Even though I had never been to Sector 8 before, I should still be able to think about it well enough to send myself there. I know there was a cliff with a forest on it, so, that will have to do.

I saw a tunnel of 0s and 1s that matched my colour. It flowed faster and faster until in a flash, it stopped and I felt myself land on solid ground.

I was in the forest. This was probably not where I needed to be, but, at least I made it to Sector 8, right?

My Digitizer had started beeping. The Virus must be nearby, but I would actually have to find it before I could call the others. It would help if I knew what to look for. These Viruses can take on all sorts of appearances.

"My Digitizer is getting Virus signals." came Green's voice.

"So is mine." came Red's voice.

"Same here." came Yellow's voice.

"How can we all be getting signals?" I asked.

"Unless the Virus can be in four places at once," said Silver, "Something tells me that three of them are false alarms designed to confuse us."

"Can you check the database and see what Virus it is?" said Riley.

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything," said Silver, "I'll be searching blindly unless one of you can find it."

"**Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"**

"That new ranger is our target," I said, "She has yet to master her powers."

"I created just the Virus for the job, Your Highness," said Dr. Molex, "It is based on a battery and has powerful armour that makes it impervious to even the strongest of attacks."

"I never knew batteries had armour." said Phisher.

"They don't really, you Nimrod!" snapped Dr. Molex.

"The particular strain of code that was used to create the Virus is based on defense," I said, "So Dr. Molex was able to create a Virus that can defend itself."

"Then why didn't you just make a Tank Virus?" asked Phisher, "Then the code would've made it even stronger."

"That would be a waste!" snapped Dr. Molex, "There are plenty of other strains that would result in a much stronger Tank Virus."

"Besides," I said, grabbing Phisher by throat, "That meddling Silver creates barriers that prevent me from doing the same thing twice."

"So, had you made a Tank Virus now, it would be impossible to make a different one later?" asked General Berg.

"Precisely," said Dr. Molex, "You could learn a lot from the General, Phisher…"

"If you think I'm going to waste my time trying to make that idiot smarter-"

"Relax, General," I said, slamming Phisher to the ground, "You have more important things to do."

"Not to mention that if Phisher were to become smarter then the King would need a new punching bag." said Dr. Molex.

"He's not a punching bag per say," I said, "He's more of a stress reliever than anything…"

The very concept of a new Codec appearing out of nowhere was something that I failed to predict. Had I been more open-minded, I might have been able to implement a failsafe or something, but, because I was caught off guard, I ordered Molex to make a special kind of Virus to destroy the new Ranger while we still had a chance. I like to think of it as tying up loose ends.

"General, make sure the Replicators are ready for action," I said, "I want you to deploy them in the Sectors 4, 6 and 12."

"Now, Sire?"

"Wait until the other rangers realize that the Virus is in Sector 8," I said, "That way they'll have to defeat them before they can regroup."

"It shall be done, Milord." said General Berg.

"**Chloe Baldwin"**

Whatever Silver did to my Codec meant that I knew how to do everything I needed. The problem is that I had no practice yet. Sure, I could use my Digitizer to track down a Virus, but I don't have the instincts that the others seem to have. What else could I do other than ask for advice?

"Where should I start looking?" I asked, "My Digitizer can sense that a Virus is nearby, but I don't know where to look for it."

"Everywhere," said Silver, "If the Virus' blip appears in the middle of the radar, you've found it."

That's not exactly what I wanted to hear. I suppose I was expecting him to snap his fingers to just give me the instincts I needed. I guess that's what happens when you grow up having everything handed to you on a silver platter. You never get a chance to learn how to do things for yourself. Being a ranger is probably the best thing that ever happened to me, because now I had no choice but to learn.

I started by checking all the bushes and trees on the forest cliff. The signal remained unchanged, so I moved down the hill into the residential area. Sector 8's was rather small because the cliff took up the majority of it. I think it's the primary source of lumber for Metro City, so that makes sense. and therefore consisted mostly of trees; Most of the people that live there are carpenters or lumberjacks.

After a while, I started to get really frustrated and so I threw my hands up in the air. That's when I saw it. There was a large telephone pole disguised among a group of trees that were roughly the same height. I pointed my Digitizer at the power box on top of the pole and wasn't all that surprised when it indicated that I had found the Virus.

"Silver, I think I found it," I said, "Try looking up the Virus again."

"I'm already working on it," he said, "About ten seconds ago the other three signals disappeared."

"Rangers," called Red, "Regroup at Orange's location."

"Shit!" groaned Yellow, "I've got Replicators to deal with!"

"So do I!" exclaimed Green, "They just came out of nowhere!"

"Another group of them just showed up here too," said Ranger Red, "I think Trojan set up ambushes to stop us from regrouping."

"Chloe, um, I mean Ranger Orange," came Rachel' voice, "He's targeting you."

"Then why are the Replicators attacking the others?"

I heard some muffled arguing and clattering.

"Rachel, leave my headset alone," said Silver, "You're not helping your leg to heal any faster."

"Fine then, you tell her!" she snapped.

"Because without them, you're alone," said Silver, "That's why this Virus is so strong."

"Don't let that scare you," grunted Yellow, "Use it as a challenge!"

See, now that was what I wanted to hear. They were supporting me because they believed in me. Either that or they were just saying that so I wouldn't quit. Whatever the intent, it was enough to calm me down. I pulled my blaster out and shot at the power box. I didn't even need to aim. The Virus was up there somewhere and I needed to bring it down.

I heard a startled yelp and gasped as I saw something fall. It landed with such force that it left a small crater behind. As I looked at it, I was confused. If it was a Virus, it didn't look like one. In fact, it looked like a giant battery.

"It could be a false alarm," I said, "Whatever I shot down doesn't seem to be a Virus."

"I think I found the Virus," said Silver, "However, the information pertaining to it is encrypted, so I'll have to crack the code before I can read it."

"So what do I do?"

"Shoot it again, I suppose," he said, "Manual decryption can take quite a while."

This time I aimed, but the blast rebounded right back at me.

"Whoa!" I shrieked, ducking out of the way frantically.

"Silver, she needs help!" moaned Rachel, "Please let me go!"

"Out of the question, Rachel, your leg is too badly broken for me to safely splint it."

"I don't care!"

"Rachel!" shouted Red, "As team leader, I forbid you from morphing until your leg is fully healed!"

Over the shouting of his voice, I could the sounds of him punching and kicking the Replicators. I was rather shocked to hear Red say that. I knew he's the leader, but I never thought he would ever pull rank on us. At least he did it for a good reason.

"Fine then!" she sobbed, "Just hurry with those Replicators!"

She wasn't just crying because she was frustrated, she was also crying because she knew how much Ranger Red cared for her. It can't have been easy for him to do that.

Since shooting it didn't work, I decided to try kicking it. But when my foot made contact it vibrated and ached like I had just kicked solid steel.

"This thing is a shell!" I gasped, upon realizing it.

The only thing I hadn't tried yet was my mace. Maybe it was strong enough to penetrate that battery shell. There's another first for you by the way. Until today I had never put those two words together.

"Download weapon!" I called.

My flail materialized in my outstretched hand. I extended it to full length and began to twirl it around again to gain momentum. The battery remained completely motionless, which meant it either couldn't see when defending or it wasn't afraid of my flail. If it had seen how quickly it dealt with the Motorcycle Virus, maybe it would be.

"**Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"**

"Tell me Dr. Molex," I said, my voice growing louder and louder, "What all did you use when testing the strength of the Virus' armour?"

"I ran the usual program," he said, "Once for each level of force and it endured all of them."

"Including a simulation of the Orange Ranger's flail!?" I roared.

"No, I never got a chance to add that in to the program!" he squealed, cowering in fright.

"If your ignorance gets the Battery Virus killed, I'm demoting you to the position of stress reliever!"

"**Chloe Baldwin"**

I felt that I had built up enough force. I swung the flail in a wide arc that landed the ball in my other hand. The exact instance that the ball hit the armour, I knew had struck gold. The Virus popped out of its shell and stood there in its true form.

"Gotcha!" said Silver, "It's the Battery Virus, #4B0T2T7R6Y."

I barely heard him; I had to cartwheel out of the way as the Virus charged at me like bull. Before it tried to ram into me, it rubbed its foot on the ground and built up a charge. I knew that if it hit me I would also get electrocuted.

"Can electrically charge itself using static and has impeccably high defenses," he continued, "From what I'm seeing, I don't think this Virus has a genuine weakness."

"Well, it's not too fond of my flail."

"Of course…" said Silver, "This database was created when there were only four rangers."

"So, in theory, all of them are weak against my weapon?"

"No," he said, "After this one, you'll be no different than the others."

"Then I should probably make the best of it!" I shouted.

Once again the Virus attempted to tackle me, so I swung my flail low and tripped it. Once it was down, I retracted the chain and proceeded to beat it with the ball as if my weapon was a mace. Actually, my weapon was probably both… But you get the idea.

At some point I completely let my guard down and the Virus used that opportunity to strike. I slammed my ball one last time, but the rather than hitting the Virus, he elbowed it right back at me without ever standing up.

I got hit in the face with my own weapon and fell backwards, but never hit the ground. Someone caught me.

"Hey!" snapped Ranger Yellow, "You can't just hit her like that!"

"Yeah," said Ranger Green, "Can't you see she's a girl?"

"We got here as soon as we could," said Ranger Red, "Are you okay?"

He helped me to my feet. Apparently he was the one that caught me.

"I'm fine," I said, "Just a little dizzy."

"Stay back for a while until your head stops spinning," he said, "We'll handle the Virus."

"You think you can handle me!?" snorted the Virus, standing up and preparing to charge again.

"You don't look so tough!" said Yellow, tauntingly.

This one was much uglier than the Motorcycle Virus; it looked a lot like those things mythical bulls that walk as if they're people. Monitors, I think they're called. The only differences were that shell and the electric powers.

The Virus built up a charge and then rushed forward, but Yellow pivoted out of the way with ease.

"Olé!" he shouted.

While holding back hysterical laughter, Green joined in and egged on the Virus.

"Toro, toro!"

Even though the Virus had no idea what they were doing, it kept charging at them. It tried to psyche them out by ramming at someone other than who was taunting it.

"Arriba!" shouted Red as he leapt out of the way and slashed the Virus.

"Dude, matadors don't say that." said Green.

"I wasn't trying to be a matador," said Ranger Red, "I just felt like speaking Spanish too."

"Hold still so I can tackle you!" growled the Virus.

"I think we wore him out," said Yellow, "The VR should finish it off."

It was interesting to me how well the information uploads worked. I knew exactly what that meant. To me, it felt like I had always known, even though I just learned it earlier today. I wasn't dizzy anymore, so the others beckoned me to join them in their diamond formation.

Our weapons disintegrated and turned into a flurry of data. The four different swarms combined and reshaped until they solidified into the Virus Reaper.

"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.

I had never used this thing before, but needed no instructions. I grabbed a handle and helped the others take aim. There was a laser sight that showed us the path the bolt would follow once we pulled the trigger.

"Four…" said Ranger Green

"Three…" said Ranger Yellow.

"Two…" said Ranger Red.

"One…" I said.

"FIRE!" we shouted together.

With an electronic twanging sort of sound, the VR shot the bolt. There was a loud boom as the bolt broke the sound barrier. The bolt of pure data went right through the Virus' chest and then returned to us like a boomerang.

The Virus became rigid and fell backwards, exploding when it the ground. During this time, the VR disappeared and we struck a pose.

A torrent of binary showed up and rained code onto the spot where the Virus exploded.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat." said Yellow.

"Prepare the Zords, Silver." said Red.

"They're ready and waiting," he said, "Even yours, Ranger Orange."

"Look deeply into your Codec," said Rachel, "You should see it reflected inside."

I peered at the center of my Codec like she said and let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't a unicorn.

"It's a bird." I said.

"It's a plane." said Green.

"Not the time, Ranger Green."

"Sorry…" he said.

"Not just any bird," I continued, "It's a falcon!"

My father used to be really into falconry. When Mom wasn't home and he wanted to go hunting, I was forced to go with him. It made me cry, because even though I was really young, I sensed that he was killing them. Eventually, he gave it up once he pulled his head out of his ass and realized that it bothered me. Then he tried to train one for me, but stopped when I told him I didn't want one. Later on, I explained that as long as he didn't shoot them, I was happy.

"Download Data Zord!" called Red, "Ruby Fox!"

"Download Data Zord!" called Green, "Emerald Gorilla!"

"Download Data Zord!" called Yellow, "Topaz Rhino!"

"Download Data Zord!" I called, "Garnet Falcon!"

My Data Zord materialized exactly the same way as my weapon did. I heard the familiar cry as it flew around in a loop de loop and swooped down to let me climb aboard. Once I was inside the cockpit, I drove the Zord in circles around the Virus' head.

"Ranger Orange," said Silver, "Your Zord is fairly versatile, so until Rachel can fight again, I want you to use yours as a substitute."

"By that, he means take her place as the Megazord's right arm," said Ranger Green, "Don't worry though; your Zord should do that on its own."

"Commence Megazord transformation sequence!" said Ranger Red.

I felt myself being pulled away from the cockpit. I floated up into the sky until the sensation stopped. I looked down and noticed that I could see what was happening from an angle above the action.

Piece by piece the Data Zords transformed until they were all properly attached in their designated locations.

My Falcon Zord went through a drastic transformation. The wings rotated until they faced the opposite direction and the whole body seemed to extend into several segmented pieces. The Zord opened its beak and a connector protruded from it, which is probably how the right arm would connect to the shoulder. Once it had finished changing, I figured out that it had become some sort claw or scissor.

When the Megazord was complete, I seemed to wake up already inside of it, as if everything I had just seen was a dream. The others were inside the head with me now and each of them had a steering mechanism that controlled their individual part of the Megazord.

"Cyberspace Megazord, online!" we announced together.

"Simply amazing…" said Silver, "The Falcon Zord became a claw that can squeeze anything it grabs with enough pressure to make a diamond."

"Out of coal or out of peanut butter?" asked Red.

"You would need the same amount of pressure regardless."

"Wait," said Yellow, "You can make a diamond out of peanut butter?"

"Yeah, man, I saw on the Discovery Channel," said Ranger Red, "They put peanut butter between two massive pistons and squeezed it for days and days-"

"Hey, Einstein!" snapped Rachel, "Focus on the giant battery!"

"I'll tell you later," he muttered, "Let's try out our Falcon Claw."

The Virus rubbed its palms together, obviously building up a charge. It lunged forward and hit us with its electrified open palm right in the stomach. The Megazord lurched forward, and I manned the claw to grab its arm before it moved. It felt no different than trying to win a prize at a crane game.

I probably went too fast, because the Virus avoided us and hit us again with the other palm, this time in the chest. Ranger Yellow worked his steering devices to make sure we kept our balance while Ranger Red wound up his arm and punched the Virus in the face. It stumbled and clutched at it as if trying to stop it from bleeding, which was weird, considering it wasn't a person.

"Grab it now, Orange!" said Red.

I went even faster this time and half punched, half grabbed the Battery Virus around the stomach. It writhed and flailed, trying to break free, but was no match to might of the Falcon Claw.

"Don't hold back," said Green, "Squeeze it like ripe fruit."

I cranked the pressure as high as it could go. It was controlled by a lever. The down position was off and the up position was full force. I had had it at about 40%.

The additional 60% was more than it could bear. The Virus tried to scream, but all that came out was muffled sort of gurgling sound as it disintegrated, still in the clutches of the Falcon Claw.

Back at headquarters, Rachel limped over to me. I went in for an air hug, which she refused and gave me a normal hug instead. She must have been tense, because she was squeezing me rather hard.

"Now I know how the Virus felt." I gasped.

"Sorry," she said, "But I'm proud of you."

"Why?"

"Because you didn't quit when things stopped being easy." said Rachel.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, "I'm not a quitter."

"You quit on your training bra, you quit on tampons and you quit on your first car with standard transmission."

"Quiet," I muttered, "They don't want to hear about any of that."

"I don't know about you guys, but I was hanging on every word." said Marcus.

"She had me hooked when she said bra." said Oz.

"Well, obviously I got the hang of all that stuff," I said, "Eventually."

"You use pads and still drive an automatic."

They could tease me all they want, because whether they liked or not, I was here to say. After all the fun and excitement I had in just one day, I acquired a taste for being a ranger. If anything, fighting the Battery Zord helped me see that there are multiples sides to everyone.

Now that Riley, Marcus and Oz had seen the side of me that my Codec saw when it chose me, they accepted me into the group with open arms.

Besides, there was no point getting mad at them… Because what they were saying was all true…


	12. Cursed

Sector 11, Metro Museum  
Metro City, Canada  
June 10th, 2015  
10:30 AM

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

"These are Chachapoya, also known as "the Cloud People," said Dr. Fraser, "They are a related group of Inca mummies and were found in northern Peru."

The hell kind of name is that? Sounds like a dance and an exotic spice put together into one word. When I heard that we were going on a field trip to the museum, I was hoping we'd get to check out the dinosaur exhibit, but no, instead we get to look at shriveled up dead geezers wrapped in toilet paper… How enthralling.

"Who can tell me when these mummies were made?" asked Dr. Fraser.

Dr. Fraser was our tour guide. He was supposed to be some sort of foremost expert on Egyptian, Mayan and Incan mummies. We hadn't even started studying any of this crap yet. At least, I don't think we had. It's hard to tell because I usually just catch up on my sleep during History. So, why was this guy asking us? Shouldn't he just be telling us?

"About 500 years ago?" piped up Gretchen Gellar, the only girl in school that made Riley seem like an idiot.

"Yes, that's correct," said Dr. Fraser, "These mummies were made during the reign of the Inca Empire which took place from 1438 to 1532."

I can believe that I'll have to use most of the bullshit algebra that they keep shoveling down our throats, but I don't believe that I'll ever need to know when the Incans died. I might need to know what they did before dying, but yet he's not talking about that.

"Now, you'll notice that the exhibit is divided into two parts," said Dr. Fraser, "This is because the Incan rulers are artificial mummies, meaning that they were not created naturally."

Artificial mummies; how is that possible? If someone dies and you wrap them up and leave them that way for 500 years, you get a mummy, no ifs, ands or buts about it.

"The other side contains natural mummies," continued Dr. Fraser, "Sacrificed children were mummified by the freezing temperature and the dry, windy mountain air."

"So, the term mummy refers to a corpse that was dried, not a corpse that was wrapped in bandages?" asked Marcus.

"Correct," said Dr. Fraser, "The internal organs were removed from the body to prevent it from decomposing. Then, once dry, they were wrapped in bandages and entombed. Can anyone tell me why?"

"I know that the Egyptians did it because they believed in life after death," said Riley, "But I don't know if the same bodes for the Incans or Mayans."

"Well, the Mayans believed the world would end in 2012," I said, "Seeing as though it didn't, then they can't have been thinking very clearly."

"What a terrible thing to say!" gasped Gretchen, "They were all very advanced; the Egyptians built the pyramids without the use of modern technology."

"I can build a pyramid out of a small stack of bricks using nothing but my hands," I said, "But that doesn't mean I'm advanced."

"Because the ones they built were almost 125 times the size of the one you could make!" snapped Gretchen, turning her nose up at me.

"Fine," I said, "Maybe they were advanced, but I don't see how learning about them will be useful to me in the future… I've got better things to do than waste my time here."

"I would take that back if I were you, young man…" said Dr. Fraser, ominously, "Legends tell that the Incans put curses on their mummies to smite those who disrespect their embalmed ancestors."

"Bring it on!" I snapped.

What kind of bullshit was that? Curses? Give me a break… I had a pile of math homework that I could be doing. Wasting a whole day in a museum was not my biggest priority. To be fair, I had no intention of doing that homework either, but that's something I would have to keep to my-

"Oof!" I groaned.

For some reason, I tripped on the top step outside the museum and fell down the concrete stairs. That was so unlike me. My coordination has always been top notch. In football, I've only ever fumbled the ball a handful of times. I stood up, only to get creamed by an incoming bike messenger.

"Watch where you're going!" he spat.

Where did he come from? I didn't see him until he crashed into me. You'd think I'd have heard something to tip me off, but he was so quiet. It almost seemed like someone muted him with a remote.

"Legends tell that the Incans put curses on their mummies to smite those who disrespect their embalmed ancestors…"

Dr. Fraser's voice echoed in my head, but I was no fool. It was just a coincidence. There's no such thing a curses. I must be sleep deprived or something, and Dr. Fraser snuck into my mind because I was tired.

Before I got up, I noticed that there was a discarded piece of paper on the ground. I picked it up and unfurled it to find that it was a lottery ticket, the draw for which was tomorrow at noon. See? Just like that my luck was starting to turn.

Yes, Silver did give me a check, but I didn't keep it. I gave it to my Mom who used it to pay off the mortgage on our mobile home, the credit card debt and all her bank loans. Next was to buy a new car, move into a new house and then put the rest into savings. I was fine with that, because the money I had been earning met the same fate. Now I wasn't working anymore, but would likely get an allowance for doing chores again. So, winning the lottery would help us that much more.

My car was back in the school parking lot, so now I had to get back there. While I was walking, a bus drove by through a puddle, drenching me and then I got hit by bird droppings, which dripped into my face. After a while, I got fed up and teleported back to the school parking lot. When I arrived there, I wasn't wearing pants. Somehow, they didn't teleport with me. The worse things got, the less I cared about how peeved Silver would be if he found out about me teleporting for no reason.

I got into my car and turned the key, but the engine stalled. I kept trying until smoke started emanating from under the hood. Coughing and sputtering, I made my way through the smoke to open the hood. I wrenched it open and propped it up. With the hood up, I leaned forward and put my face close to the engine. I heard a snap and knew that the stick that was propping the hood open had snapped. With lightning reflexes, I caught it before it could slam down and break my neck.

After that, I lost hope and decided to hide in the back seat of my car. If I couldn't even start the engine without getting killed, driving would be even more dangerous. All I could do was wait for Marcus to get back, since Riley, Rachel and Chloe don't have cars.

"**Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"**

"What have we here?" I said, sitting forward in my throne to get a better look, "Ranger Yellow's luck has hit an all-time low."

"The mummies are Viruses in disguise aren't they?" asked Phisher, "Viruses with the power to control another person's luck?"

"No, this is something else entirely," I said, "Something that I think we could have a lot of fun with."

After the tragic loss of the Battery Virus, I ordered Molex to perform a major upgrade to his encapsulation machine. We needed to make sure that it could calculate statistics that took the new ranger into account. Unfortunately, Molex's machine was more complex than I realized and he only just started putting the finishing touches on it yesterday. Which meant one of two things; either those mummies really were cursed, or there was a Virus down there that was made without authorization. It was too early to tell at this point.

"How so?" asked Phisher.

"Think of it as a constant source of slapstick comedy." said Dr. Molex.

"Would it be wrong of us to place bets?" asked General Berg.

"Normally, no," I said, "But in your case, you have nothing to bet."

"Just sit back and enjoy the show." said Dr. Molex.

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

The smoke from my car never stopped. I could smell it while I tried to sleep. I kept hoping I would wake up in my bed, but obviously I didn't. Three sharp knocks on my window made me sit bolt upright and whack my head on the roof of the car. While rubbing the bump that had formed as a result, I clambered out of the car and stood up, forgetting that I didn't have any pants on.

It was Riley and Marcus. I could tell that they were about to say something, but I cut them off before they were able to.

"I tripped down the stairs of the museum, crashed into a bike messenger, got splashed by a puddle, crapped on by a bird, lost my pants when I teleported and almost broke my neck when I tried to figure out where the smoke was coming from!" I blurted out in one breath.

"Then I guess I can skip the part where I ask you if how you're doing," said Riley, "I'll also skip the part where I tell you that I used to feel the same way after you'd pick on me like that."

"Much appreciated." I said.

"Did you have a girl back there or something?" asked Marcus.

"No, I lost my pants when I teleported."

"That can happen?"

"Apparently," I said, "Otherwise I'd still be wearing pants."

"You know what this means, don't you?" asked Riley, "The mummies cursed you for disrespecting them."

"There's no such thing as curses!" I snapped.

Just then, something enormous fell out of the sky and landed on the roof of my car. It was a giant blue ball of what looked like ice. The weight of it crushed my car like a soda can.

"MY CAR!" I shrieked, completely horrified.

"Please tell me that's not a meteor." moaned Marcus, nervously.

Riley walked over to examine it. He sniffed it, poked it, stroked it with his finger and then touched his tongue to it momentarily.

"It's not a meteor," he said, "I think it's blue ice." he said.

"What do you say, Oz?" asked Marcus.

"I'm cursed…" I muttered.

Riley and Marcus helped me teleport to headquarters. I told them to steer clear of me in case my curse was contagious, but they weren't afraid, probably because they didn't disrespect the mummies. When we got there, Rachel and Chloe couldn't keep their eyes off my lack of pants.

"Is that a pickle in your pocket or are you just happy to see us?" snickered Chloe.

I walked right past her. I was not in the mood right now. Nobody, not even something that's been dead for 500 years, messes with my car and gets away with it.

"Something called blue ice just fell out of the sky and landed on my car," I said, "Tell me everything you know about it so I can go ape shit on it!"

"Blue ice?" asked Silver, "That's frozen sewage from airplanes."

"Eeewww!" moaned Chloe.

"It's called blue ice because the waste drops into a vat of disinfectant which is then frozen to make it easier to dispose of," said Silver, "Pilots aren't allowed to dump their tanks in mid-flight; in fact they don't even have a mechanism to do so."

"Then how did it fall on my car?"

"Because you're cursed." said Marcus.

"I know," I said, "I'm trying to figure out if this curse is making impossible things happen."

"It's not uncommon for blue ice to fall out of the plane accidentally," said Silver, "In fact several people have died from being hit by it."

"This is going to sound weird," said Rachel, "But what do you know about mummies?"

"Not much," said Silver, "Why?"

"Oz disrespected the mummies at the museum and now he's cursed." said Marcus.

"Why do you think I can do anything about that?"

"I don't know, I guess it's just a force of habit," I said, "But you must have some advice?"

"Don't tell me you're a skeptic," said Marcus, "I thought that you of all people would be the first to jump to radical conclusions."

"I'm not skeptical," said Silver, "I just don't have time to search for proof."

"So, because I've been cursed by a mummy and not a Virus, you're not going to help me?" I asked.

"I think it would be a wild goose chase if I did."

"You're probably right," I said, "How about you guys? Will any of you help me?"

"As long as I don't have to touch that blue ice stuff, I'll help." said Chloe.

"Good, because the first thing I wanna do is get my pants back," I said, "How did I manage to lose them while teleporting?"

"You probably weren't concentrating hard enough," said Silver, "Try teleporting back to the spot you were when you lost them."

"Chloe, you might want to let him tag along with you," said Rachel, "If his luck is really as bad as he says, he might end up in China if he tries to teleport alone."

If I was in a better mood, I would've had some fun with Chloe, like pinching her ass or copping a feel while holding on to her, but I just didn't feel like it right now. So, instead, I cleared my mind of everything frivolous and did my best to think of my pants and nothing else. Once I was ready, Chloe held down the two smallest buttons on her Digitizer and we soared up through the ceiling, leaving a streak of binary behind us.

My favourite things to do are the kind of stuff that you can always tell worked. You know, like eating a pizza. If you can taste it, and you stop feeling hungry, then you know you're doing it right. Teleporting, when done properly was one of those things. As rangers, we could see where we were going during the teleportation process. Imagine looking out the window of an airplane and seeing everything move about 100 times faster.

We arrived in the alley across the street from the school parking. The same alley that I was in when that Virus attacked me and Riley came to help. It was the only place we could land where no one would see us.

"Should we morph?" asked Chloe.

"Do you really think we'll need to?"

"What if there are Replicators waiting to ambush us?"

"If we had come here to get a powerful weapon, then you'd have a point," I said, "But, since we came to get my pants, I think we're safe."

"If you were to morph without your pants, do you think you'd still be missing them in ranger form?"

"What!?"

"Never mind… Just go get them." She chuckled.

By now I had embraced the fact that there would be no conceivable way to do this without avoiding embarrassment. There were people all around. No matter what I did, they were going to see me run into the parking lot to reclaim my pants.

So, I just went for it. I was halfway across the crosswalk when my foot slipped and I stumbled backwards, landing hard on my back. I lifted my foot to examine it and found a banana peel stuck to it. That wasn't there when I started across. At some point between then and now, that peel appeared out of thin air just to trip me.

"You okay?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I moaned, "My pride on the other hand…"

I got up and walked extra carefully. I examined the ground before I took each step to make sure I wouldn't trip again. In a bizarre twist of fate, my Digitizer started beeping as I got closer to my pants. Chloe probably triggered this back in the alley. She jinxed me, and with my curse, it came true.

I turned around to face her and pointed at my Digitizer.

"Is yours beeping?" I mouthed, without actually saying the words.

"No." she mouthed, tapping her Digitizer curiously.

"Be ready to morph," I mouthed, "But stay in the alley so no one will see you."

She nodded. I turned away from her continued to make my way across the street, still taking each step apprehensively. The closer I became, the faster the beeps got. But then they stopped. I grabbed my pants as if there was an automated guillotine in my way, but nevertheless got them. I threw them back on and instantly felt whole again.

I looked back at Chloe, whose eyes had gone wide. She was looking at something above me, which triggered me to look just in time to dive out of the way. Another huge piece of blue ice would've crushed me had I stayed where I was. I scrambled to my feet and noticed that the first piece wasn't on my car anymore, which meant that something had used the same piece to try and flatten me.

"You saw what just happened, right?" I asked, "The same piece of blue ice somehow fell from the sky again!"

"You're not cursed then," said Silver, "I think something is targeting you to make you think you're cursed."

"Our Digitizers are sensing something," said Chloe, "Probably the same something that wants Oz dead."

"We're on our way." said Riley.

"**Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"**

"Tell me Molex," I snarled, "If your machine is out of commission then where did that Virus come from!?"

"In its current state, the machine CAN still create Viruses, but doing so could potentially short-circuit it," he whimpered, "Which is why I decided to wait before using it."

"So," I said, turning to Phisher and Berg, "That means that one of you went behind my back and created something!"

They looked at each other nervously, and tried to blame it on each other.

"I can assure you that the consequences of lying to me will be much than the consequences of creating a Virus without my knowledge," I snapped, "SO SPILL IT!"

"It was me, Sire!" said Phisher, making a wheezing sound as he spoke.

"Why did you do it?"

"To try and prove to you that I'm not useless."

"I hope it was worth it," I growled, "Because if the Rangers destroy it, then you will have wasted a perfectly good strand of corrupted code."

"**Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"**

The parking lot and the surrounding area were now deserted. All the people that saw the massive chunk of blue ice fall ran away in fear of being crushed by anymore that might have followed it. This made our job much easier, because now there was nobody around to see us morph or de-morph if the battle doesn't go our way.

"Heath, I need you to think hard," said Silver, "At some point you must have touched or picked up something that caused the Virus to target you. Until you get rid of whatever that was, it will keep attacking you."

"But it could be anything!"

"Then retrace your steps," said Silver, "Just like how you recovered your pants."

"Chloe, cover me." I said.

"I told you," she said, "There's not a chance in hell that I'm touching blue ice."

"Then push me out of the way or something," I said, "I need time to think."

"That could take hours!" she whined.

"Very funny," I sighed, "Just do whatever you have to protect me."

"Alright, fine…"

I closed my eyes and retreated back into my mind. I had pretty lousy short term memory, but considering how shitty my day has been since I stormed out of the museum, it might be one of those things that you never forget. You know, like riding a bike?

Okay, so, first, I tripped down the stairs of the museum. Then… Um… Then I stood up and got creamed by the bike messenger that came out of nowhere. He yelled at me to watch where I was going and then I remembered the ominous warning that Dr. Fraser had given me before I left the museum… What happened next? Um… I was still on the ground, and then I um, um, um… Found the lottery ticket… Wait, that's it! The lottery ticket! I suppose tripping down the stairs and getting hit by the bike messenger was just a stint of clumsiness and then everything that happened after I picked up the ticket has been the work of the Virus.

I pulled the lottery ticket out of my jacket pocket and tore it up. It let out a bloodcurdling scream and disintegrated.

"Took you long enough, ha, ha, ha, ha!" said a voice that you might expect a clown to have, "I was running out of stuff to do to you!"

The source of it burst out of the ball of blue ice. Had it been hiding in there the whole time or something? I examined keenly and realized that it was based on a slot machine.

"Then I guess that means it's my turn to do stuff to you!" I snapped.

"Not without us!" hollered Riley, "We'll be right there!"

"Rangers, be on your guards," said Silver, "It has over a dozen attacks. Each one is based on a particular outcome of its reels."

Almost as if the Virus heard Silver, it reached up and pulled its lever. All three reels stopped on "BAR", which caused its arms to turn into rigid, bars with limited mobility. Then, it charged at us and spun around so that we were pummeled by its arms.

"I guess we know what that one does…" moaned Chloe.

The others had arrived. Except for Rachel, whose leg had healed enough for a normal doctor to put a cast on it; the powers of her Codec sped up the process from several months to under two weeks. Although she still couldn't fight.

"Why did you two put a coin in it?" chuckled Marcus.

"We didn't," I said, "Apparently it can work without them."

"How is that fair?" asked Marcus, "If you ask me, this machine is rigged."

"Good, then no one should care if we beat the crap out of it." I said.

"Ready?" asked Riley.

"Ready!" we said at once.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" shouted everyone together.

Now fully clad in our ranger suits, we huddled around the Slot Machine Virus in a circle.

"The odds are still in my favour!" cackled the Virus, pulling its handle again.

The reels stopped on three black circles. The pictures on the reels were too nondescript to know exactly what they were though.

There was rumbling sound, followed by a clattering as something fell inside the Slot Machine Virus. That must mean it was hollow. Then, from the chute where the coins usually fall from, rolled a bomb. At least now we knew what the circle was supposed to be.

"Oh shit!" yelped Green, kicking the bomb away.

The Virus moved its finger and drew a path back towards us, which the bomb followed. Somehow it had moved it with its mind.

"Hell with that!" I snapped, picking the bomb up again.

The Virus raised its finger to steer it again, but I didn't plan on throwing it.

"Saw "Ah"…" I said, as I crammed the bomb back up the chute.

Less than a second later, the bomb detonated inside the Virus. Much to our surprise, it had next to no effect on it at all.

"Nice try," said the Virus, "But I can't be hurt by my own weapons."

It pulled its lever again. This time the reels stopped on a trio of dollar signs. We all relaxed. How could money possibly be used be used as a weapon? The Slot Machine Virus' lights and bells went off, which triggered an eruption of coins and bills to shoot out like a Gatling gun.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" cackled the Virus, "You've just met my "Blood Money" attack, Rangers!"

"Silver," I groaned, "We need a better plan!"

"The Slot Machine Virus is #9S7M0A1C3H," he said, "Its profile says that it can be instantly destroyed if its reels land on Triple 7s"

"Keep him busy," I said, "I'll be right back!"

I rolled away, keeping low to the ground to avoid being pelted by money.

"Yellow! Get back here!" snapped Red.

"Don't worry," I said, "I'm just going to grab a secret weapon."

I knew exactly what I was doing. The Slot Machine Virus had a thing for luck. It made it seem like mine had run out because I dissed mummies. If I could do the same thing to it, then maybe I would get a chance to pull its lever make it land on what we needed.

Around the corner from Sector 13 High School was an antique shop. Where there are antique shops, there are mirrors, where there are mirrors, there are superstitions based on breaking one. I knocked on the door, still full morphed, much to the surprise of the old lady that answered.

"I need a mirror," I said, "The biggest one you have."

She was too stunned to do or say anything, so I slipped past her and grabbed what I needed. The mirror I found was large enough that I could barely wrap my arms all the way around it. As I made my way back, I kept hoping to myself that the others were keeping the Virus busy. If it saw me before I got there, it would break it and cancel my plan. I turned the corner and my mouth curled into a satisfied smirk. The Virus' reels were now displaying a trio of axes, and a large one was in its hands, locked in combat with Ranger Red.

"Hey!" I shouted, "You haven't forgotten about me, have you!?"

The Virus cleared some space around it by flailing the axe around blindly. Eventually it disappeared, so the Virus pulled its handle yet again. The reels stopped on three lightning bolts. The Virus turned towards me and pointed a long boney finger at me.

"Of course not." it said.

The stream of electricity shot out of the tip of the Virus' finger and headed right at me. At the last second, I threw the mirror directly into the path and leapt out of the way. The Virus was so cocky that it had already convinced itself that his attack destroyed me. Meanwhile, I snuck up behind it and took out my weapon. With a mighty heave, I delivered a powerful blow, stunning the Virus as it collapsed from the pain.

"What just happened!?" gasped Orange.

"I threw a mirror at the electricity and ducked," I said, "I figured it would curse the Virus and confuse it at the same time."

"You don't think that's a little cheesy?" asked Orange.

"Oh definitely," I said, "But, I mean, it worked, didn't it?"

I walked over to the Virus and kicked it over. Now its lever and reels were right side up. I stood on it, pinning it to the ground and pulled the lever. Miraculously, the reels stopped on three 7s… Almost… One of them shifted back to something else.

"Enough of this!" I snapped.

I punched the case that protected the reels and manually turned the remaining one so that it showed the third 7 again. The Virus' sirens and lights went ballistic, which startled me into retreating to safety next to others. From our safe distance, we got to watch as the Virus exploded into countless pieces of binary code.

"Remind me to never start gambling." I said.

"I second that." said Green.

"Me too." said Orange.

"Ditto." said Red.

Once we had all powered down, something popped into my head. I knew it was silly and stupid, but I felt I owed it to myself to make things right with those mummies.

"I'll catch you later." I said.

"Where are you going now?" moaned Riley.

"Well, first I should go pay for that mirror," I said, "Then after that I'm heading back to the museum to apologize to the mummies."

The others broke out into hysterical laughter. I took me quite a while to realize what exactly they were laughing about, but once I did, I blushed knowing all too well how stupid I must have sounded…


	13. Checkmate

Sector 5, Radio Station  
Metro City, Canada  
June 12th, 2015  
5:00 PM

"**Marcus Reynolds"**

"And in local news," I said, "In less than 24 hours, Metro City will play host to the 25th annual Western Canada Chess Tournament."

One of the best kept secrets I have is that I'm a chess wiz. I haven't actually played in years, but I still know all the moves, strategies and rules. Back in my prime, I could checkmate an opponent in less than ten turns. Normally, I would brag about a talent like that, but, because my Dad was the one that taught me, playing chess just brings back all those painful memories.

Chess has been in my family for generations. Dad used to tell me that our family is the one that originally invented the game, but, since the earliest known version of Chess was from eastern India in the 6th century, I have a hard time believing him. Especially since our ancestors never left North America.

"This is the first time Metro City has ever hosted a tournament like this," I continued, "So, I thought it might be fun to try and learn how to play using this electronic board."

I positioned the microphone so that both my voice and the sound effects from the board would be captured in decent quality.

"Um… Let's see," I said, doing my best to sound clueless, "I'll move this horse thingy out from my back row and put it over here."

"THAT IS AN INVALID MOVE. TRY AGAIN," said the Board, "KNIGHTS MOVE TO ANY OF THE CLOSEST SQUARES THAT ARE NOT ON THE SAME RANK, FILE OR DIAGONAL. THUS, THE MOVE FORMS AN "L"-SHAPE: TWO SQUARES VERTICALLY AND ONE SQUARE HORIZONTALLY, OR TWO SQUARE HORIZONTALLY AND ONE SQUARE VERTICALLY. ALSO, THE KNIGHT IS THE ONLY PIECE THAT CAN LEAP OVER OTHER SPACES."

"Wow! This thing is cool!" I gasped, "I didn't know it was supposed to teach you how to play. I just thought it talked and made sound effects."

"Here," said Seb, "Let me show you how it's done."

He grabbed a pawn and moved it out diagonally. Just like last time, the board scolded him for trying to move a piece incorrectly

"THAT IS AN INVALID MOVE. TRY AGAIN," said the Board, "THE PAWN MAY MOVE FORWARD TO THE UNOCCUPIED SQUARE IMMEDIATELY IN FRONT OF IT ON THE SAME FILE OR ON ITS FIRST MOVE IT MAY ADVANCE TWO SQUARES ALONG THE SAME FILE PROVIDED THAT BOTH SQUARES ARE UNOCCUPIED. ONLY WHEN CAPTURING AN OPPONENT'S PIECE CAN PAWNS MOVE DIAGONALLY. IF A PAWN MANAGES TO REACH THE OPPONENT'S SIDE OF THE BOARD, IT CAN BE PROMOTED TO ANY OTHER PIECE, EXCLUDING A KING."

"You were saying?" I chuckled.

"Well, enough of this," he said, switching topics like a politician, "Coming up after these messages, we'll give you a chance to win tickets to the tournament, so stay tuned."

After the incident in Sector 21, Sebastian had really started to grow on me. He was still whiney and aggravating, but at least he wasn't under the control of a Virus anymore.

"Do you think anyone will actually call in?" he asked, "Normally we give away tickets to more exciting things like rock concerts or hockey games, but a chess tournament?"

"I see your point," I said, "Chess isn't boring, its, intellectual. There's bound to be at least a few listeners that can appreciate it."

"Yeah, I suppose," he said, "So, how should we go about giving them away?"

"It's been a while since we did a trivia question," I said, "Why don't we do that?"

"But neither of us knows anything about chess."

"No problem."

I brushed away all the pieces on the board and proceeded to count the squares. Obviously, I already knew that were 64 of them, but Sebastian thought I didn't, like him, and I intended to keep it that way.

"Assuming that I counted right, there are 64 squares," I said, "That'll be the question."

"Works for me," he said, "Get ready; the ads will be over in under a minute."

The last ad was for Cosmos', the biggest burger chain in Metro City. Everyone loved them because their food was real and not questionable like McDonalds'. In fact, I did a behind the scenes interview with the CEO of the Cosmos' as one of my first segment at the station. He told me that they don't even use real beef. Their burgers are actually ground up vegetables that are coated in saturated beef fat for flavour. I never would've guessed. It tastes amazing and it's healthy.

After the ads, I began our usual spiel.

"Welcome back, folks," I said, "As you probably heard; we've a pair of tickets to the chess tournament to give away."

"And you all know what that means…" said Seb, pushing the button responsible for playing the segment title.

"Alright devoted listeners," said Seb, "The phone lines are now open. Call in if you think you know the answer."

"Here's the question: How many squares are there on a standard chessboard?" I asked.

"**Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"**

"I have an idea…" I said.

"Do tell, Sire, do tell!" said Dr. Molex, excitedly.

"I think you could make a Virus out of that chessboard," I said, "A Virus that would trap the Rangers as chess pieces until someone can defeat it at its own game."

"Can you actually do that?" asked General Berg, "It sounds rather complicated."

"This strand is designed to animate inanimate objects," I said, pulling a piece of corrupted code out of my pocket, "Use it on the chessboard."

I handed it to Dr. Molex who grabbed it with shaky hands. That happened to him a lot when he got too excited. I kept forgetting to do something about that, because dropping a strand of code in Cyberspace was like dropping a contact lens.

"Just prepare the machine for now," I said, "I don't want you to create the Virus until we can guarantee that at least four of the Rangers will fall into the trap."

"Why not wait for all of them?" asked Phisher.

"Open your ears, you twit!" I snapped, "I said at least four!"

In the distance, I could a high-pitched whirring as Molex's machine revved up. After the updates he added, the Viruses that the machine produces should be stronger than ever.

"Prepare yourself Rangers!" I shouted at them, despite the fact that they couldn't hear me, "Because soon, the game shall be afoot!"

"**Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"**

"Yeah on thick crust with extra cheese and sauce," said Heath, "And um… Throw in some mushrooms, onions and black olives."

"But I don't like black olives!" whined Chloe.

"Too bad," said Heath, covering the receiver of the phone with his hand, "Because we all love them."

"No, you love them and we tolerate them because you always order them." said Rachel.

"I really wish you'd stop having pizzas delivered here," I said, "Headquarters is supposed to be secret."

"I don't have time to pick it up," said Heath, "Being a ranger is my top priority."

"After food." said Rachel.

"How am I supposed to fight Viruses on an empty stomach?"

Just then, Marcus arrived. He had teleported in from above. I hadn't even noticed that he and Sebastian had signed off.

"Ordering pizza again, Oz?" he asked, "There better not be any black olives on it."

Heath made an obscene gesture at him and then returned to his call.

"Yeah, for delivery," he said, "To the largest mansion on the Sector 0 hills. Trust me when I say you'll know it when you see it."

"What's that you've got?" asked Riley.

"This? Oh, it's one of those electronic chessboards," said Marcus, "Sebastian bought it at a pawn shop and brought it into the station to promote the chess tournament."

"Do me a favour and go wait for the pizza." said Heath.

"Alright," said Marcus, "It'll give me a chance to pick off those olives."

He headed upstairs just as the sirens went off. My monitors tried to focus on the source, but found nothing. Marcus poked his head back down.

"Is there trouble?"

"If there is, I don't know from where."

I could hear the Ranger's Digitizers beeping. Then, a surge of binary erupted from the chessboard that Marcus had left on the table. The board glowed after the binary dissipated, but nothing else seemed to happen.

"Please tell me everyone else saw that." said Heath.

"Oh yeah…" said Rachel.

"Whatever that was," said Riley, "It hit the chessboard."

Seconds later, in a flash of light, I heard the Rangers screaming, but the sound gradually became more and more higher pitched until it reached chipmunk level. I whipped around in my chair to see that the couch was now vacant. The sirens died down. Whatever it was sensing was gone.

"Where did they go?" asked Marcus, rejoining me downstairs.

I turned back to my console and pulled up the tracking software for the Codecs. I was still getting five blips, but four of them were much smaller than they should be.

"Nowhere," I said, "They're still here in headquarters."

"The chessboard!" gasped Marcus.

He dashed over to it and slid onto his knees.

"**Marcus Reynolds"**

I examined the pieces on the board carefully. If I didn't know any better, I would say that the others were now trapped on the board.

"Silver?" asked a high-pitched voice.

"We're on the chessboard!" hollered another high-pitched voice.

"Wait a minute," said Silver, "Because of how small you are, your voices are hard to understand."

I watched as he pulled up several programs on the screen and fiddled around with them.

"Who cares what we sound like!?" snapped Oz.

Whatever Silver did, made their voices come out normally on our end.

"Relax Heath," said Silver, "I rigged the communication network. So, now we can hear you properly."

"How do you plan to get us out of here, Silver?" asked Rachel.

"I don't think I can," he said, "You're not trapped in an alternate dimension; you've been shrunk down to the size of chess pieces."

"Actually, they ARE chess pieces," I said, "Some of the normal pieces are missing."

"Which must mean that you have to fill in for the missing pieces," said Silver, "The only way you can escape is if someone defeats the Virus."

"Good," said Riley, "Marcus can do it."

"I don't mean in a fight," said Silver, "I mean in a game of chess wherein you are the pieces."

"Can't you play?" I asked.

"Barely," he said, "I'm much better at backgammon."

"So… We're trapped down here?" asked Chloe.

"Well, once the tournament is over," said Silver, "Maybe I could ask the winner to help?"

"There's no need for that." I said.

"What are you talking about, Marcus?" asked Rachel.

"I can play." I said.

I expected the others to laugh hysterically. They usually listen to my radio show. So, either they could tell I was faking earlier, or they somehow always knew, but didn't tell me.

"Then prove it by getting us out of here!" snapped Oz.

"Chessboard Virus," I said, "I challenge you to a game."

The board lit up like a Christmas tree. A strange aura of binary had appeared around it.

"Let me guess," it said, even though I couldn't see a mouth on it, "If you win, I have to let your friends go?"

"Yes."

"But if I win," it continued, "You and everyone else in this town will share the same fate!"

"Agreed." I said.

I sat down at the table on the black side of the board, which is the same side that the others had landed on. I peered over to Silver's monitor and saw that he had created a 3D model of the board that had four glowing dots, which I assume represented the location of the others.

"Riley," I said, "Position yourself to the empty black square beside you."

"Can I be a bishop?" he asked.

"My thoughts exactly," I said, "Rachel and Chloe, you two will be rooks. Head for the empty squares on the far left and far right."

"Which means you get to be the missing knight, Heath." said Silver.

"That's "Sir" Heath to you."

"Don't let it go to your head, Oz." I said, "Remember that if this is going to work, you have to do exactly what I say."

"I swear to God if you get me killed…" he muttered.

"As I'm sure you know," said the Virus, "White moves first."

It looked like the board was controlling itself, because the Virus hadn't emerged in its true form yet. Maybe it didn't have one or maybe I had to defeat it first? Its first move was knight to f3. That was the same move Donald Byrne made in his match against Bobby Fischer in 1956. My Dad taught me it move for move. Fischer was black in that game and won; which meant I should be able to copy him and have the same results, as long as the Virus was doing the same thing with Byrne.

"Oz, you're up," I said, "Move to f6."

"What?" he snapped.

"Sorry," I said, "f6 means the same row as Riley, in front of him and the pawn."

"Gotcha." said Oz, moving accordingly.

The Virus' next move was pawn to c4. It seemed as though it was copying Byrne.

"Pawn to g6." I said, moving the piece accordingly.

Next white should move its other knight to c3, behind the pawn from its previous move. I watched with baited breath as the move played out according to my thoughts.

"Okay Riley, move behind the pawn from my last turn," I said, "That's g7."

Once Riley was in place, the Virus made its next move, which was pawn to d4. So then my next move needed to be a kingside castle. Castling is a unique move wherein the king is moved two spaces towards a rook while at the same time, the rook is placed on the space next to the king, on the opposite side, as if jumping over it.

"Rachel, you and the king are going to switch places," I said, "Go stand where Riley was so I can put the king onto the square that Oz started at."

"You can do that?" she asked, "Seems like a weird move."

"It is," I said, "But I know what I'm doing."

"Okay…" she said, moving over to where I instructed her.

"Clever move boy," snickered the Virus, "But let's see how you handle this!"

It moved its queenside bishop to f4, which was still the same move that Byrne made. I countered it by moving the pawn in front of the queen to d5.

"Queen to b3." said the Virus, moving the piece accordingly.

"Pawn to c4." I said, smirking as the Virus moved the pawn that I just captured out of play.

"Queen to c4." said the Virus.

Now we were both down one pawn. The game was still progressing exactly the way I anticipated. I made my next move by placing a pawn on c6.

"Pawn to e4." said the Virus.

"Knight to d7," I said, "Not you, Oz, the other one."

He had looked up at the word and started to move. Luckily, I saw him in time to stop him. Any moves besides the ones Fischer made could instantly thwart the whole game.

The Virus' next move was rook to d1. After that I moved the knight again, this time to b6. This marked the final action in single digit turns. For the Virus' tenth move, the white queen was nudged from c4 to c5, in front of another black pawn.

"Bishop that isn't Riley to g4." I said, making sure to clarify.

"Bishop to g5." said the Virus.

"Knight to a4." I said.

The more moves I made, the harder it became to concentrate. I remember how happy it made me when I finally memorized all the moves of Byrne vs Fischer and used them to win against my Dad. He was so proud of me that he gave me my fist beret, which was checkered just like a chessboard.

I fought desperately against the pain. I knew that I was the only one that could defeat the Virus and save my friends. If I was going to cry, it would be onto their shoulders.

"Queen to a5." said the Virus.

This meant that my next move was to capture the white knight on c3. At first glance, one might think that would only help white create a stronger pawn center; however, Fischer's plan was quite the opposite. He was setting up a risky sacrifice that would ultimately smash white's center and trap the enemy king.

"Knight to c3." I said.

"You fool!" snapped the Virus, "Pawn to c3!"

Good. The Virus thought it was winning. One thing a good chess player should never do is assume that they're winning. Especially this early in the game.

"Your turn Oz," I said, "Go capture the pawn on e4."

"With pleasure!" he said, cracking his knuckles.

"Bishop to e7." said the Virus.

I lost another pawn, but didn't let it bother me.

"Queen to b6." I said.

"Bishop to c4." said the Virus.

The match was really starting to heat up. At this point, I became so absorbed in it that I had an easier time holding back those tears.

"Ready to capture another pawn, Oz?"

"Just point the way!" he said, loudly.

"Right there," I said, "On c3."

"You killed my brother…" said Oz, "Now I kill you!"

Silver chuckled, but I didn't. All my attention was focused on the game. There would be time to laugh about Oz's quotes later.

"Bishop to c5." said the Virus.

"Rachel, move to e8. That's one space to your right," I said, "Check."

Rachel now had a clear shot at the Virus' king. From where she was, nothing could capture her, but the king could easily move out of her way,

"King to f1," said the Virus.

"Bishop to e6." I said.

I think the others had figured out what they could or couldn't do by now. Riley didn't try to move because he knew that bishops are trapped on their colours. He could only move diagonally along black squares and e6 was a white square.

"Say goodbye to your queen," said the Virus, "Bishop to b6!"

A lot of novice players think that the queen is the best piece on the board. I disagree; the queen is versatile, but that doesn't mean it's the best. The piece can move like bishops and rooks at the same time, but, yet, each player only gets one, so most amateurs think that eliminating the queen is a sure fire way to win. Obviously, that's not accurate. Fischer sacrificed his queen so that Byrne would create an opening for a fierce attack from Fischer's minor pieces.

"Bishop to c4," I said, "Check."

I've always thought that the bishops are underrated pieces. I guess amateur players prefer the queen and rooks because they aren't restricted to a single colour like the bishops. So, by taking my queen, the Virus left its unsung piece open for an attack from mine.

"King to g1." said the Virus.

"Oz, move to e2," I said, "That'll put the king in check again."

"Not for long," chuckled the Virus, "King to f1."

"Go take the pawn at d4 Oz." I said.

"If I do, then the white bishop, knight AND rook could-"

"I know," I said, "But as long as I win, you'll be fine."

"Chess is a game of sacrifices, Heath." said Silver.

"Fine…" he said, "Here I go."

Oz captured the pawn, following my directions just like a real knight would. Knowing that it was the Virus' turn next, Oz clenched his teeth and braced himself.

"King to g1." said the Virus.

I saw Oz's shoulder droop as he unclenched. I knew the Virus wasn't going to take him on that turn, but, if I had said anything out loud, then the Virus would've thrown a curveball and done a different move instead.

"Put the king in check again, Oz," I said, "You'll be safer on e2."

"This is getting repetitive…" he signed.

"Chess is also a game of repetition." said Silver.

"King to f1." said the Virus again.

"Let's try to get out of this vicious circle," I said, "Oz, move over to c3."

"I'm getting tired," he said, "Why couldn't we have been trapped after eating the pizza?"

"At least this way I don't have to gag on those nasty black olives." said Chloe.

"King to g1." said the Virus for the third time.

"Pawn to b6," I said, "Now you're out of bishops."

"Queen to b4." said the Virus.

"Before what?" muttered Riley, laughing to himself quietly.

"Wake up Chloe, I need you to move." I said.

"I am awake," she said, "But my legs aren't."

"Go stand next to the white queen," I said, "Over on a4."

"Queen to b6." said the Virus.

"Ready for more action, Oz?"

"Always." he said.

"Take out the rook on d1." I said.

My checkmate was really starting to take shape now. Having Oz capture the white rook had put the Virus' king in a tricky position. The only place it could move was f1, but if it did, then it would be in check from the bishop on c4. Meanwhile, Rachel and Riley were still in back row, protecting our king. At this point, the Virus would have to move some pawns to open a path for the white king.

"Pawn to h3." said the Virus, moving its piece into place.

"Chloe, go capture the pawn at a2." I said.

"Finally," she said, "I was beginning to feel left out."

"King to h2." said the Virus.

"Keep it up everyone, there's only three pawns left," I said, "Oz, your next target is on f2."

Again, this would put him in danger, but unless the Virus planned to mimic Byrne until the last minute and then catch me off guard, I knew the queen would leave Oz alone.

"Rook to e1." said the Virus.

"I haven't forgotten about you, Rachel," I said, "Your path is clear, go to e1 and get rid of the last white rook."

"Don't mind if I do." she said.

"Now it's my turn to put YOU in check!" said the Virus sounding very deranged, "Queen to d8!"

"Not so fast!" shouted Riley, stepping over f8.

Luckily, that was the move I needed to make anyways. In a moment of realization, I remembered that Rachel was about to be taken by the Virus' remaining knight.

"Knight to e1!" snarled the Virus.

The Virus didn't actually transform the Rangers into chess pieces. He simply shrunk them down to the appropriate size on a board that lacked a few black pieces. The rook that Rachel was serving as had actually been in its spot, but the piece was broken, so, she climbed on top of it, and had perched up there ever since.

"Oh my God! Rachel!" screamed Riley.

When the white knight attacked the rook, Rachel fell to the ground like a limp ragdoll, while the damaged piece she had been riding crumbled, but didn't hit her. Riley was seconds away from moving and ruining my entire strategy when I put my hand in his way.

"Don't forget! We're still playing!" I said, loudly.

"Fuck you!" sobbed Riley, collapsing to his knees.

"Relax Riley," said Silver, "She's just unconscious."

"Finish this game quick, Marcus…" spat Riley, getting to his feet.

"Bishop to d5." I said.

"One down, three to go," said the Virus, "Knight to f3."

"Move over to e4 Oz."

"Queen to b8." said the Virus, moving its piece at a snail's pace to egg me on.

"Pawn to b5." I said.

The Virus had no idea that every black piece and pawn was defended. This meant that the white queen had nothing to do, because I retaliate on my next turn and take the queen.

"Pawn to h4." said the Virus.

"Pawn to h5." I said, blocking the piece of before it had even finished moving.

"Knight to e5." said the Virus, showing a brief sign of despair.

"Ready to call it quits and release my friends?" I asked.

"Impotent whelp!" growled the Virus, "You've already lost and you can't even see it!"

"Suit yourself," I said, "King to g7."

"King to g1." it said.

The game between Byrne and Fischer had 41 plays. A play is pair of moves, so, if white and black have both moved, then first play ends and the second one starts. After my next move, the final five plays would start. The Virus couldn't win at this point one way or another, but it was being stubborn, so, I would have to go all the way.

"Riley, move to c5 next to the other bishop." I said.

"King to f1." said the Virus.

"Oz, go over to g3 and place the king in check again." I said.

Four plays left. The Virus was already hopelessly entangled in my mating net.

"King to e1." said the Virus, anxiously.

"Riley, now I want you to check the king from b4."

Three plays left. Chloe had the white king trapped in the bottom row and Riley was preventing the white king from moving to the right. All the Virus could do was keep moving the king to the left.

"King to d1." said the Virus, still anxiously.

"Bishop to b3." I said.

Two plays left. Now b1 and c1 were the only squares that the white king could move to.

"King to c1." said the Virus with a hopeless sigh.

"Oz, move over to e2." I said.

The last play.

"King to b1." said the Virus, so quietly that I barely heard it.

"Move to c3 and finish it Oz," I said, "CHECKMATE!"

Everyone said the last word. It was a unanimous realization that was impossible to hold in. The Chessboard Virus turned into a tornado of binary, which went all over the room. As it moved, everyone got sent flying back to where they were immediately before being absorbed into the game.

I just sat there in awe. Not only had I saved my friends, but I renewed my love for chess again. I shouldn't be dreading the fact that my Dad isn't here to play with me anymore, I should be thankful for all the dedication he showed in teaching me. I should playing to carry on for him.

"Rachel? Are you okay?" asked Riley.

"Apart from having a broken leg." she said.

"The broken chess piece took most of the attack." said Silver.

"Great job, Marcus." said Oz.

"Why didn't you tell us you were that good?" asked Chloe.

"Because it brought back painful memories," I said, "Which, after now, I managed to overcome."

Just then the doorbell rang. Somehow, Silver had set up the mansion so that he could it hear it regardless of where he was.

"Just in time for pizza." said Oz, rushing upstairs to grab it.

Everyone gathered around me for a group hug. Even Silver squeezed himself in. Before we broke apart, Oz came back down and saw what was going on.

"How come you never group hug me when I do something cool?" he asked.

"Because you always smell like black olives." said Chloe.

Ironically, Sebastian was right. Nobody wanted the tickets. Some people called in and gave us stupid answers, but that's all. I guess sometimes the only way you can appreciate something is for it trap you inside. The others probably all thought chess was lame... Until their lives depended on it...


End file.
